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br£«niied NDvembcr i, iS? 
PART 1. 



iDcorporatcd Pcbniary 13, 1891. 
VOL. IV. 



ANNUAL PUBLICATION 




I Historical Society 



Southern California 



PIONEER REGISTER 



Los Angeles 
1 897 

Published by the Society 



Q 



Organised November 1, 1883 Incorporated February 13, 1891 



PUBLICATIONS 



OF THE 



Historical Society 



OF 



Southern California 



VOLUME IV. 

(ANNUAL PUBLICATIONS OF 1897-98-99.) 



Published by the Society 



LOS ANGELES, CAL. 



C2-3 05 



CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV. 

PAOS 

Officers of the Historical Society, 1897-98 4 

Insagnral Address of President J. D. Moody 5 

A Pioneer of the Sacrsmento Valley (with portrait) H. D. Barrovrs 12 

Early Postal Service of California J. M. Gninn 18 

i>r. William Francis Edgar (with portrait), H. D. Barrows 27 

Echoes Prom the American Revolntion J. D. Moody 31 

The Old Pneblo Archives. J. M. Gninn 37* 

Don David W. Alexander.. H. D. Barrows 43 

The Cantilever Bridge of the Colorado Mrs. M. Burton Williamson 46 

Los Angeles in the Adobe Age J. M. Gninn 4>, 

Two Notable Pioneers, J. J. Ayers and George Hansen (with portraits) 

H. D. Barrows 56 

Isla de Los Mnertos Mrs. M. Burton T^^iamson 64 

Foundering of the Central America H. D. Barrows 70 

Pioneer School Superintendent of Los Angeles .J. M. Gninn 76 

Secretary's Report 82 

Report of the Publication Committee 85 

Curator's Report 87 

Treasurer's Report 87 

Officers of the Pioneers of Los Angeles County, 1897-98. 88 

EUstorical Sketch of the Organization of the Society of Pioneers 89 

Constitution 92 

By-Laws 53 

Roll of Charter Members ^ 

Members Admitted Since Closing Charter Roll ^ 

Officers of the Historical Society, 1898 99 104 

Fifteen Years of Local History Work .J. M. Guinn 105 

Hugo Reidand His Indian Wife Laura Evertsen Ring in 

The Story of a Native Califomian.. H. D. Barrows ii4'* 

Pacific Coast Discoveries. Albert E. Yerex 119 

Some Famous Gold Rushes J. M. Gninn 124 

Notes on the Mission San Gabriel Rev.J. Adaib 131 

Some African Folk Lore J. D. Moody 134 

Capitan and Tin-Tin, Types of Mission Indians Laura Evertsen King 139 

Old Fort Moore .J. M. Guinn 141 

Pioneer Schools and Their Teachers Laura Evertsen King 148 

Governor Felipe de Neve H. D. Barrows 151 

Rare Old Books in the Bishop's Library Rev. J. Adam 154 

How a Woman's Wit Saved California J. D. Moody 157 

El Estado Libre de Alta California J. M. Guinn 163 

Committee Reports.. ly^ 



PAGB 

Officers and Committees of the Society of Pioneers, 1898-99 175 

Bx-Mayor John Gregg Nichols H. D. Barrows 176 

Hon. Stephen C. Poster H. D. Barrows 179 

Dr. John Strother Griffin H. D. Barrows 183 

Henry Clay Wiley J. P. Bnms 186 

Horace Hiller H. D. Barrows 187 

William B. Abemethy 188 

Roll of Members Elected Since Last Report 190 

Officers of the Historical Society, 1899-1900 196 

Don Abel Steams H. D. Barrows 197 

Visit to the Grand Canyon. Mrs. M. Bnrton Williamson 200 

Mny Ilnstre Aynntamiento .J. M. Gninn 206 

Ygnado Del Valle H. D. Barrows 213 

Early Onb Life in Los Angeles Jane E. Collier 216 

f In the Old Poeblo Days .J. M. Goinn 223* 

The Pions Pond Rev J. Adam 226 

Alfred Robinson H. D. Barrows 235 

Value of an Historical Society Walter R. Bacon 237 

Juan Bandini H. D. Barrows 243 

\y^ Story of a Plaza .J. M. Goinn 247* 

Early Goremora of California H. D. Barrows 257 

Battle of Domingnez Ranch .J. M. Gninn 251 

Reports of Officers 267 

Officers and Committees of the Society of Pioneers, 18991900. 269 

Constitution and By-Laws 270 

Stephen W. La Dow 273 

Edward Nathaniel McDonald 274 

Francis Baker « 276 

Hyman Raphael 277 

Leonard John Rose 277 

Georgia Herrick Bell 279 

Cordelia Cos Mallard 280 

Jose Mascarel 282 

James Craig 285 

Palmer Milton Scott 286 

Membership Roll of the Pioneers complete to 1900 287 




J. J, AVSKS. 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

OR 

SOUTHERN CAL.IFORNIA., 



LOS ANQELKS, 1897. 



PRESIDENT'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



BY DR. J. D. MOODY. 



[Delivered February x, 1897.] 
Memb4r8 of the HUtoriecU Society oj Soutlum California: 

Before* entering upon our work for a new year, let ub etop for 
a little while upon the threshold, look around, and see where we 
stand among the educational factors of our city. An historical so- 
ciety bhould be recognized as one of the educational institutions of 
the community, and should be appealed to as such. It should com- 
mand both the respect and the attention of all intelligent citizens. 
If it is our aim to be one of the educational forces of our city, let 
us first try to get a proper understanding of the possibilities that 
lie in our way, if, haply, we may be stirred to newer life, both in 
our chosen field, and also out into broader lines. Among the 
many societies in Los Angeles, ours is the only one which in any 
way occupies the historical field, unless possible exception could be 
made in the case of the Society for Preserving Old Missions. We 
must occupy the field fully, or we will surely be supplanted by other 
less pretentious associations. Ours should be the center out from 
which these other organizations would grow. I confess to a little 
feeling of jealousy that the incentive to, or, at least, a prominent 
part in, this work among the old missions, should not have at- 
tached to this society. 

A Folk-lore Society, an Ethnological Society, and kindred as- 
flooiations, should be formed in, or by our society. Instead of «<► 



6 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

cietieSy we might form sections for the special study of these 
topics, in order to make them auxiliary to our work. Tt may be ob- 
jected that we did have sections at one time with no profitable re- 
sult. But I protest that geological and botanical studies do not t>rop- 
erly come under an historical head. The Science Association is 
their proper home. But all studies having in their origin a human 
interest properly belong to our society. We should be looked up to 
as authority worth considering in all questions in any way touching 
upon historical subjects in our city and State. 

In order to command attention, our society must be in some 
Way, more prominently brought before the public. I will refer to 
this later. Of late years historical studies have assumed an im> 
portance which they never before had. Before this time, written 
history was full of events; now, it is full of human interest; then it 
was full of blood and death; now, it throbs with human life. 

This is largely the result of the work along new lines, upon 
which these studicb have been carried out. Prof. Green's "History 
^f the English People" is a notable example of this newer method 
♦-^of historical study, as is also McMaster's history of our own peo- 
•ple. When Prof. Green's book was first published the value of 
^his method was at once recognized, and henceforth the acceptable 
"history will be the one dealing with people and their social devel- 
opment, rather than with personal ambition and national wars. 
The citizen, rather than the soldier, will be the object of stttdy. 
More attention will be given to the social and intellectual condi- 
tions which made it possible for a Napoleon or a Tweed to be, rather 
than to the detailed list of the wars of the one or the stealings of the 
• other. It would even be possible to write a great history of our 
^c!ivil .war, with hardly more than a mention of battle in ft. 

it w^as really the differences in the social characteristics and 
the resultant growth from these in the English settlements in the 
Oarolinas, the Scotch in Georgia, and the mountain region; the 
French in Louisiana, the Puritans and the Germans in the North, 
that brought about the confiict and shaped its course. These racial 
differences, developing different social conditions and mental char- 
acteristics, and, becoming more firmly stamped in character as the 
years went by; these, along with the modifying influences each 
had on the other, are factors of prime importance, and intensely 
human in their interest and which must not for a moment be lost 
sight of in any conception of the development aJnd duration of the 
struggle. ..... - ..-.-.« 



I 

i 



PRESIDENTS W AUGURAL ADDRESS. 7 

Our hiBtorical literature of recent date shows a tendency to 
base history upon the \\tJ of a people, rather than upon their wars. 
But to write such a history it is necessary to have the minutiae of 
the daily life, social an^ intellectual, of a people. In the historical 
classes of Johns HopjjunB University the students are set at just 
such work. In furtiler pursuance of these studies, old town 
records, church regii^ers, colonial archives, and similar sources, are 
searched. Many ot' their students embody the results of such in- 
vestigations in monographs, and histories of cities, towns, counties,^ 
families and institutions. These, in their turn, furnish the future 
historian with material for his work. I speak of these methods of 
treating historical studies because of the bearing it has upon our 
work. It is just the kind of work we should do. 

The active period, embracing the time of transferal from Mexi- 
can to American authority, the brilliant achievements of Gen. 
Fremont and other early explorers, all have a very great interest 
for us. Yet, of far greater value would it be, did our records show 
a complete account of the communal life of our State from the 
earliest period; their social customs, their political fabric, their in- 
dustrial habits, and their intellectual growth. It should be the 
aim of our society to do this work, and to do it in some systematio 
manner. For the future historian of California these facts would 
be of incomparable value. Much has been done in this line, but 
ihoch more needs to be done. Much of just such information is 
scattered through the books and papers of the olden time, is easily 
overlooked, and liable to be lost. This should be secured before it 
is too late. 

An almost perfect specimen of one kind of work we need to 
do was given us in a paper, '^Christmas Week at Ban Juan Capis- 
trano,'' (I believe this was the title,) by our former president PrA. 
Policy. Prof. Guinn has given us others in his articles in the Los 
Angeles Times. Buch articles have a permanent value. We can- 
not have too many of them. My brief acquaintance in the city 
leads me to think that we must have others who are able, could 
they only be persuaded, to write such papers. It is our province as 
a society to collect the materials for, not to write, a history. 

New HexicOy Arizona and Southern California occupy a unique 
place in our national life. This place is founded upon an older posi* 
doBy geographical and social, which is alike unique in our historical 
records. These States are linked together by this chain of historical 
events, that makes it impossible to treat of only a part withoat 



8 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

doing violence to the whole. Are there associations kindred to ours, 
in these Territories? If so, we should cultivate relations with 
them that would be to our mutual benefit; if not, I believe we ought 
to aid in developing such. In the mean time, we should hold some 
kind of official relations with individuals in these States, thus mak- 
ing them tributary to our society, and so an aid to its usefulness. 
This Territory does not occupy the pl^e in our school histories 
which its }>a8t history and its importance demands. In our Btate 
school history, California is given only twenty-five pages, and to 
the story of these other States, hardly a word. I believe this local 
history should occupy a much larger place in our school study, than 
is now given to it. 

There is a vast country lying at our door, which is just emerg- 
ing from a semi-barbaric state, but with such strides that she will 
soon be one of the great civilized countries of the world. We are 
destined to come into much closer relationship with her. New 
Mexico, Arizona and Southern California, more than any other 
portion of the territory acquired from Mexico, retains much of the 
quaint history which attaches to the mother country, and along 
wih it, and inherited from her, much of the old custom and family 
traits not to be found in any other portion of our country. This 
lends a peculiar interest to this region, which does not pertain to 
any other portion of our land. The laws and customs of the 
early Spanish emigrants have left a lasting impression on these 
States. Since the completion of the Santa F6 Railroad, making a 
direct communication with the East, a great rush of immigration to 
this southern country has taken a place. These new-comers are 
largely of the cultured class. They bring with them the rush and 
whirl of the East. The influx being so great and so sudden we are in 
danger of making the same mistake made by the early colonists of 
the Middle West, when they transplanted bodily the customs and 
ideas of tlieir eastern homes, to the extent that the importance \A 
the early and contemporaneous history was not fully recognized, 
much of it was lost and undue prominence given to the established 
history and customs of their old homes. These facts are being 
recognized by many of our later historians. In the December 
meeting of the American Historical Association, Prof. Turner of 
Wisconsin read a paper, on "The West as a Field for Historical 
Study." In this paper, quoting from the Associated Press reports, 
he says, "that too much stress has been laid on the work of the 
colonists of the East, while the settlement, progress and develop- 



PRESIDENT *S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 9 

ment of the States of the West have been entirely overlooked. The 
expansion of the country into the unsettled tracts of the West has 
furnished some of the most fundamental characteristics." Subsi- 
tute the words "Great Southwest'* for the words "States of the 
West/' in the above quotation, and the passage will be as applicable 
to us as to the Eastern States. We are building on different founda- 
tions than they, and are developing characteristics as peculiar in 
their way, as those of the dwellers on the Atlantic slope. It is 
of prime importance that these characteristics be recorded while in 
process of development. It is my conviction that the work of our 
society should proceed along two lines: First and foremost, the 
gathering of such information as suggested, in our Southwest, and 
secondly, broadening out into a fuller discussion of general history. 
By doing so we would enlist the sympathy and co5peration of all 
classes. I believe good woOld come of it. 

May 1 not further outline my idea of our future work? First, 
can we not devise some plan by which, with united effort, we can 
enlist more of our intelligent and educated citizens in the work of 
the society. This would make our meetings more interestnig, and 
more profitable, possibly, by arousing an interest in some one who, 
emulating the princely gift of Mr GriflSth, may provide us with a 
permanent home for our meetings, and for our collection. 

I really believe, however, that an historical society should bear 
a sort of semi-oiBcial relation to the State, or to the commercial 
center of that region where it is located, and by the State or such 
city, be provided with every facility for gathering and preserving 
the records of their locality. 

A few public lectures during the year, by some citizen, or some 
visitor to our city, on some special or general historical subject that 
would be of popular interest, would keep our society before the 
public. The old adage, "Out of sight, out of mind," has a good deal 
of wisdom in it. 

If ever we should make a special effort to get out an audience, 
the papers of the evening &ould be popular in their nature, and full 
of human interest. 

The Y.M.C.A. had a course of lectures, this past year, given 
by such men as our Postmaster, the Chief of Police, the electrician 
to the railroad company, etc. Two or three lectures on the history, 
ethnology or folk-lore of Southern California, might be just the 
means to awaken an interest in our history, in the minds of some 
of our young men. 



10 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

The Hrticles which our secretary has published from time to 
time in the city papers, have been exceedingly interesting, and 
have permanent value for historical study. I don't know whether 
Prof. Ouinn has been filing these articles with the papers of the 
society or not, but I believe they should be, and I will take the 
liberty of asking him to do it. I don't want to take anything from 
Prof. Ouinn's honor, but rather want to share that honor, justly be- 
longing to one of our chief members, and would like if he could 
sign all such as a member or secretary of the Historical Society. 

There should be, it seems to me, a closer relation between out 
schools and the society — between the public library and the society. 
Have we an historical scrap book? More than one member should 
be making such a book by culling from the papers of the day. 

I believe we should make a special effort to collect the folk-lore 
of the Indians, the Spanish and the Mexicans of this region. This 
subject is today one of the most helpful auxiliaries to the student 
of history. / 

An historical day at our Long Beach Chautauqua might be 
made profitable to ourselves and to the audience. 

Have the histories of the Pasadena, Ontario, Pomona, and 
other colonies in Southern California been written, and, if so, have 
we copies of them? We should have. 

We also should have a catalogue of every manuscript or other 
documents in any way relating to Southern California, now in 
existence in our locality. A systematic effort should be made to 
obtain these papers, and where not i>ossible to do that, to get a 
synopsis of their contents. I am aware that this has been done 
by outside parties to some extent, but we want it for ourselves for 

future use. 

I believe we ought to appoint or procure some one or more per- 
sons, who would make a list of all old-time residents of this and 
other localities, and of the pioneers of the new order of things, and 
by personal interviews, based upon a prearranged plan, make ex- 
haustive collections of early traditions, and accounts of events and 
social customs of those early days. This would take time. It ought 
to take time; but it would well repay the trouble. 

The illness of our secretary prevented our making an exhibit 
at the Home Products Exhibition. But could we not have in the 
near future, either by ourselves, or in connection with some other 
body, a loan exhibition of historical books, papers, maps, charts, 
^tc, etc,? Such exhibitions have been made profitable in other cities. 



PRBSIDENrS INADOURAL ADDRB88, ii 

They hare an educational value that we might well take advantage of. 

Possibly the Chamber of Commerce would aid us by loaning a 
room for such a purpose at some fitting time. The Chamber of Com- 
merce is accumulating the beginnings of an historical exhibit that 
may develop into a permanent institution. Cannot we make ad- 
vances to them which will be mutually profitable? 

California literature is fairly well-represented in our public 
library, but could we not help to make it more valuable by well- 
oonsidered assistance? 

If arrangements could be made bj^ which the library would give 
temporary shelving for our books and papers, as a separate collec- 
tion, for the use of the public, and under the direction of the library 
board, it would put to good use valuable matter now unattainable. 

Through the ravages of time, old books of travel and history are 
being rapidly destroyed. I would like to see a collection of such 
books begun by this society, possibly in connection with the public 
library. The constant scanning of second-hand book catalogues 
would gradually give us a good collection. 

Would it not be feasible to plan for a list of both active and as- 
sociate members, the active to have voice in the direction of affairs, 
and the associate members to not have such voice, pay no dues, but 
to have an affiliation with us. for sake of influence and increasing 
interest on the part of the public. Had we but a good place of meet- 
ing it would be easier to carry out these suggestions. But not hav- 
ing this place of meeting, can we not make use of these suggestions 
or others which may be offered to hasten this desirable end? 

I do not expect hasty acceptance of, or action upon any of these 
plans. Indeed, it would not be best to do so now. They are rather 
thrown out to stimulate as in this direction and with the hope that 
some good may grow out of them. 

I am not unmindful of the efforts which have been made in' this 
direction, but cannot we make another effort this year to place our 
society among the recognized educational factors of our city? 



A PIONEER OF SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 



BY H. D. BARROWS. 



[Read March, 1895.] 

John Reid Wolf skill, the early (if not the first) American pioneer 
of the Sacramento Valley, was bom near Richmond, Ky., Septem- 
ber 16, 1804. He was the son of Joseph and Sarah Beid Wolfskill. 
His grandfather, Joseph Wolfskill, was a native of Germany, who 
settled in Philadelphia,, afterwards he lived in North Carolina 
awhile, and from there he moved to Kentucky. His grandfather 
on his mother's side, John Beid, after whom Mr. W. was named, 
was a native of Ireland. He was taken prisoner by the British at 
Charleston, South Carolina, in the revolutionary war. He after- 
wards settled in Kentucky... Mr. Wolfskill remembers well both his 
grandfathers. The family , of. Mr. Wolfskill moved from Kentucky to 
Missouri in 1809, and settled at Boone's Lick, now in Howard county. 

There were many Indians in that section at that time whom the 
English fetirred up to hostilities against the settlers in the war of 1812. 

In 1828 Mr. W. set out for Santa F6, New Mexico, where his 
brother William had gone some time. before. Prom there he went 
to Paris, Durango, and from thence to Chihuahua. From there he 
ireut, with others, as guard for the transport of treasure to Mata- 
moras. He made eleven trips between these two latter places dur- 
ing the next four years. Then he went to the city of Durango, and 
on his return to Matamoras he took passage on a vessel for New 
Orleans, and thence up the Mississippi Biver to his home in Mis- 
souri, where he remained two or three years. 

In 1836 he returned to New Mexico, and from there he went to 
Oposura, Sonora, to buy mules to take to Santa F6. But the Indians 
stole all his mules, which he had intended to take to Missouri and 
sell, and then, with the proceeds, start for Los Angeles, California, 
whither his brother William had gone some years before, but from 
whom he had only heard at long intervals, as letters from California 
at that period had to come on sailing vessels by way of Cape Horn. 

Being left almost naked, with not a second shirt to his back, by 
the loss of his stock and all he possessed, he nevertheless deter- 
mined to set out from Santa F^ for California. 



A PIONEER OF SACRAMENTO VALLEY. X3 

A trader of Santa F^ by the name of Thompson furnished him 
irith an outfit amounting to |500 or |600 to come to Oalifomia with 
a party of twenty-five or thirty New Mexicans, together with an 
Italian and two Canadians. Afterward Mr. W., as he was able, 
gradually paid Thompson for his outfit with interest, or over |3000 
in all. 

The company left Santa F6 October 17, 1837, and arrived in Los 
Angeles in the month of February, 1838. They came up the Del 
Norte Biver to the Great Bend, where they crossed the divide be- 
tween the Del Norte and Arkansas rivers. The snow here m some 
places was four feet deep. From here they made their way to the 
waters of the Grand Biver, which is one of the tributaries of the 
Colorado of the West and then struck across to Green Biver and 
thence to the southern portion of Salt Lake Valley. It was then 
in mid- winter, and Mr. Wolfskill says they had some of the coldest 
weather he ever experienced. They came into Southern California 
through the Cajon Pass. 

Mr. Wolfskill reached Los Angeles February 14, 1838. As he 
rode into the town on a mule he saw an American standing in the 
front door of his etore, on the west side of Main street, between where 
the Downey Block and the St. Elmo Hotel now stand, who, he later 
learned, was J. J. Warner, and he inquired of him if he could tell 
him where "Billy Wolfskill" could be found. This information was 
readily given, although his brother was temporarily absent in the 
mountains getting out staves for vats to hold his wine. This 
brother "Billy" had lived here several years and was well known, 
and when it became known that a brother of his had arrived from 
the far away United States, the newcomer was as warmly welcomed 
by Samuel Prentice and the other Americans resident here, as if he 
had come from another world. Although none of them had ever 
seen John before, they were delighted to see him because he was the 
brother of their friend, William Wolfskill And this feeling was 
shared, only in a less degree, by the latter's native Califomian 
friends. Don Antonio Maria Lugo volunteered to go out to the 
mountains on horseback to inform William of his brother's arrival. 

William soon came in, and, although he was not informed which 
of his brothers had arrived, he did not even know which one it was 
when he saw him. For John's sickness in Durango had changed 
his looks greatly, and, besides, his long journey and its hardships 
and privations, made it impossible for his brother to recognise him, 



14 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

though John gars he knew William as soon as he saw him, albeit 
he had not seen William for many years. 

John stayed here with William, who had a vineyard, and worked 
in it nearly four years. 

John says he made a trip np country to look for land in 1840. 
Land in this southern portion of the Territory had at that time 
been pretty generally taken up, and as he had no means with which 
to buy land of private parties, his only chance to get any was to ob- 
tain a grant of public land in the north. On this trip he went to 
Sonoma to see Gen. Vallejo, military commandante of the district 
north of San Francisco Bay and west of the Sacramento Biver, 
whose recommendation was required before the Governor would sign 
a grant of lands in that region. The general told Mr. W. he could 
look over the country as much as he liked, but he declined to recom- 
mend a concession, his reason evidently being that Mr. W. was not 
a Mexican citizen. 

Mr. Wolfskin went north again in 1841, as also did his brother 
William, for both were very anxious to obtain land on which they 
could engage in stock-raising, and on which John especially could 
make himself a home. On this trip John did not himself go to see 
Vallejo, but sent an Englishman, Mark West, then living at Sonoma, 
to intercede for hi\n. But Vallejo made the same reply to West 
that he had made to Mr. W. the year before, namely, that he could 
look over the c ountry all he liked, but that he should not approve 
a grant to him. Finding it impossible to move Vallejo to favorable 
action, Mr. Wolfskill made up his mind to abandon further attempts 
to obtain land there or anywhere in California and to return South 
and leave the Tenitory. As be was about starting, Mr. Jacob P. Leese, 
Vallejo's brother-in-law, hailed him and inquired if it was still his 
wish to get land; and as he told him that it was, but that it seemed 
to be impossible for him to obtain any, Leese advised him not to 
leave till he saw him, Leese, again, and he would see what he could 
do. Leese finally succeeded in overcoming Vallejo's objections and 
obtained his approval of a grant of four square leagues, or about 
17.000 acres, of public land on both sides of Puta Creek, in what 
are now Tolo and Solano counties, with the understanding that the 
concession should be made in the name of Mr. W.'s brother William, 
as grantee, as the latter had become a naturalized Mexican citizen 
at Santa F^, New Mexico, in 1830. Under Mexican law a grant to 
a foreigner would be illegal. The official papers containing the 



A PIONEER OF SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 15 

comandaste'B approval, were delivered by Leese to Wolfskill and 
he returned to Los Angeles. 

As his friend, Mr. J. J. Warner, had basinesB at Monterey the 
following spring, Mr. Wolfskill sent the papers by him. to have 
Gov. Alvarado issue the grant. 

But it seems certain formalities were wanting in Vallejo's 
recommendation, and the Oovernor refused to consider the applica- 
tion till these technical defects were remedied. So, Mr. Warner sent 
th*i documents by Consul Larkin to Mr. Leese at Sonoma, who had 
the matter attended to, and Mr. Larkin brought the perfected papers 
Vack to Monterey, and kept them till John went up in 1842. He 
took his brother William's naturalization papers with him, and on 
h?ii arrival at Monterey he secured the services of a competent inter- 
preter, a Mr. Allen, a school teacher there, and appeared before the 
Governor, who then, without further objection^ signed the grant. 

Having taken along with him on this trip some stock (24 mares, 
10 tame horses and three yoke of oxen and several milk cows,) he, 
started at once, on the conclusion of his business with the Oovernor, 
with his animals, for his new rancho, but found that the San Joaquin 
Biver had flooded a wide extent of territory, and so he went te San 
Jos^ and up the west side of San Francisco Bay to where the city of 
San Francisco now is, and left his stock near the Mission Dolores 
in charge of his Mexican boy as herder, whilst he went on to Mr. 
Yount's, who was building a mill on Napa Creek, and worked for him 
till Ootobe;. Ue then went back after his animals and took them 
to his ranch, by way of San Jos6, Livermore, the San Joaquiu, 
irossing at a place called "El Prscadero," swimming his ani- 
mals there and also across the Sacramento River at Sutter's Fort, 
now Sacramento city. Arriving at his ranch, he lived there two 
; earr* without a building of any kind, devoting himself exclusively 
to tlio care of his stock. 

Meantime his brother William had arranged for William D. M. 
Howard of San Francisco to buy cattle for him around the bay; 
these he had taken to the rancho to stock it in about the yean 1846. 
John lived on the rancho whilst William's home was in Los Angeie^, 
the latter visiting the rancho at intervals. 

31anuel Vaca, the ancestor of the families of that name in So- 
lano county, and after whom the present town of Vacaville was 
named, had settled, about the year 1843, where the town is located, 
and gradually his stock, as it increased, ranged over the Wolfskill 



i6 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

grant, and, as the water dried np on his place, he applied to Oen. 
Vallejo to order Wolf skill off his own ranch; and as the military 
commandants in those times were often petty despots, Wolf skill was 
actually obliged to move his stock over to Gordon's on Oache Greek, 
where he staid about two years, Vaca having brought an order from 
A'allejo, through Alcalde Leese, to that effect. Mr. W. went over 
to Ronoma to protest against this order. But the Alcalde told him 
if he had any crops growing, he need not move till he had gathered 
them; otherwise, the order would have to be enforced. It seems 
that argument or protest, on the ground of injustice, was of no avail, 
Vallejo having practically supreme authority in all that jurisdiction 
north of Ban Francisco Bay, perpetrated arbitrary and sometimes 
tyrannical acts, because he had the power to do as he pleased. Mr. 
Wolfskin says that people at that time were required to show him, 
Vellejo, the utmost deference; that if, in passing his bouse, they did 
not take off their hats, he would have them thrust into the calaboose. 

Thestrong contrast between the character of Gen. Vallejo ofthe 
Mexican regime and the character of the same man after the change 
of government, is apparently accounted for by the reply of Mr. Wolf - 
skill, who, when asked in after years, if Gen. Vallejo was not a good 
man, said : ^^es, he was, when the Bear Flag boys made him a good 
man!" He says his arrest by them seemed to effect a radical change 
in his deportment toward others, and especially in his attiude to- 
ward Americans. 

As Mr. WolfskilPs protest against Gen. Vallejo's arbitrary order 
was of no avail, an appeal was made in 1845 to Gov. Pico at Los 
Angeles, Mr. Warner attending to the matter here for Mr. Wolfskill, 
and Vaca was cited to appear before the Governor. 

Meanwhile, John Bidwell had made a map of the Sacramento 
Valley, which he sent to Juan Bandini at Los Angeles. Mr. Warner 
took this map before Gov. Pico, and when the matter came up, the 
Governor plainly told Vaca that he had misrepresented the matter; 
in short, had lied to him, by saying that there were two rivers on 
the grant instead of one. (The Wolfskill grant is bisected by Puta 
Creek ,but it does not extend to Oache Creek by several miles.) Vaca 
made the quibbling reply that he had said there were two places on 
the same river. 

"No," said the Governor, "that is not what you said, and if you 
say so again I will send you to the guardhouse." 

Gov. Pico decided the case in Wolfskin's favor, and the latter 



A PIONEER OF SAORAMENTO VALLEY. 17 

moTed back from Cache to Pnta Creek, and he was not annoyed any 
more after that by Vaca. 

In 1851, Mr. Wolfskill commenced to cultivate a few crops and to 
plant orchard and vineyard, coming to Los Angeles for fig, pear and 
English walnut trees and grape cuttings, etc. 

The rancho was devoted to stock-raising mainly and very profita- 
bly during the early mining period, till the '60s; then to wheat-grow- 
ing, when it became necessary to inclose the land with fences. About 
this time, Mr. Wolfskill and his brother, William, divided tnelr in- 
terests in the rancho, each taking one-half. 

John and Green McMahon fenced John's half together, the lat- 
ter expending |10,000, and building twenty-one miles of fence in a 
single year. John rented his half of the land to wheat farmers on 
shares, receiving one-fourth of the crop, the total amount of which, 
some years, amounted to 80,000 sacks of grain. 

Within the last few years most of the ranch has been profitably 
devoted to fruit-culture. A branch railroad crosses the ranch not 
far from Mr. Wolfskin's old home, the nearest station being "Win- 
ters." Mr. Wolfskill has divided his ranph up among his children, 
and now makes his home with his son-in-law, Samuel Taylor, who 
married his daughter Frances. 

Mr. Wolfskill has one son, Edward (who has two boys and one 
girl;) and three daughters, Melinda, married to Clay Ooodyear; they 
have two boys; Jennie, married to Frank Bonney; and Frances^ 
married to Samuel Taylor; they have two children. 

Mr. Wolfskill, in 1858, married a daughter of Maj. Stephen 
Cooper, also a historical character in the early ^annals of Califor- 
nia, and who, with his daughter, were with the Donner party, but 
who, pushed on, and thus escaped the tragic end of that unfortu- 
nate band; which, through delay and bad management, perished 
from cold and starvation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 



EARLY POSTAL SERVICE OF CALIFORNIA. 



BY J. M. GUINN. 



[A Portion of this Paper was published in the Los Angeles Daily 
Times, March 7, 1897.] 

It may be a surprise to persons who are accustomed to consider 
California as a comparatively new country to know that it had a 
postal system and an efScient mail service before the United States 
existed, as a nation. When the Continental Congress, in 1775, made 
Benjamin Franklin Postmaster-Oeneral of the United Colonies, sol- 
dier couriers were carrying their monthly budgets of mail between 
Monterey in Alta California and Loreto, near the southern end of 
the peninsula of Lower California. Even that much-abused privi- 
lege, the franking system, the perquisite of legislators and the plague 
of postmasters, was in full force and effect in California years and 
years before the lawmakers at Washington had been granted im- 
munity to stuff the mail bags with garden seeds and patent-office 
reports. 

Padre Junipero Serra, president of the California missions, in 
1773, secured from the Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico,) for the friars 
under his charge, the privilege of sending their letters through the 
mails free. But the franking privilege on the Pacific shores, like 
its modern successor on the Atlantic Coast, gave no end of trouble. 
The padres were accused of abusing their privilege. In 1777, Goy. 
Pages refused to allow Serra's voluminous letters to be forwarded 
free, and Serra, pleading poverty, told the Inspector-Oeneral to Keep 
the letters if they could not be sent without paying postage. Pres- 
ident Lasuen complained that the refusal of the Governor to frank 
his letters had cost him |18 postage. But the padres were triumph- 
ant in the end. The government franked their letters, and the gov- 
ernment paid the bills, just as our beneficent government does and 
has been doing, lo, these many years, for its poor legislators. 

At the beginning of Washington's administration, in 1789, the 
longest continuous mail route in the United States was from Fal- 
mouth in Maine to Savannah, Gku, a distance of 1100 miles. This was 
not a through service, but was made up of a number of short lines, 
or carries. At the same time on the shores of the far Pacific, the 



EARLY POSTAL SERVIGK t»F CALIFORNIA. 19 

goldier mail carriers of the Spanish King, starting from San Fran- 
cisco on the first day of each month, rode over a continuous route 
of 1500 miles to Loreto, in Lower California, collecting as they went 
pouthward, from each mission, presidio and pueblo its little budget 
of mail, and returning brought back to the colonies of Alta Galitor- 
nia their mail from Mexico, making in all a round trip of 3000 miles. 

When Franklin was Postmaster-Gteneral, the schedule time 
from Charleston, S. C, to Suffolk, Va. a distance of 433 miles, cov- 
ered twenty-seven days, an average of sixteen miles a day. 
In 1793 a mail courier sent from Monterey, November 
16 , arrived at Loreto December 7, a ride of 1400 miles in 
twenty days. There was a regular schedule of the day and hour of 
the carrier's arrival and departure at each mission and presidio. 
An hour's stop was allowed the courier at each station. The postal 
revenues of California during the closing decade of the last century 
averaged f700 a year. The habilitados (paymasters) acted as post- 
masters at the presidios, and received 8 per cent, of the gross re- 
ceipts for their compensation. 

While the through mail from California to Mexico was carried 
by soldier mail riders over the Camino del Bey (King's highway.) to 
Loreto and from there by sailing vessels across the Gulf of Califor- 
nia to San Bias and thence overland to its destination, there was a 
local mail service in California entirely independent of the King and 
his soldier couriers. The mail between the missions was carried by 
Indian runners. There was no schedule time for the departure of 
the mail train — ^the carrier usually started when the letter or mes- 
sage was completed. His budget rarely consisted of more than one 
letter. The wardrobe of the old-time California Indian, which con- 
sisted of a breech-clout or a gee-string, did not admit of a place for 
a pocket, and, as his hands were always dirty, some device had to be 
contrived by which he could carry the letter without soiling it. In 
one end of a cane-shaped piece of wood a cleft or split was made, 
and in this the letter was inserted. The tenacity of the wood held 
it fast, and with this improvised mail pouch on his shoulder the In- 
dian runner started for his destination on a dog trot, that carried 
him sixty or seventy miles between sunrise and sunset. An extra 
dish of atole (mush) compensated the carrier and paid the postage. 

At the pueblos the alcalde or some ofScer detailed to act as ad- 
ministrador de oorreos (postmaster) received and distributed the 
«mall packages of mail. The compensation for his services was 




30 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

small. It did not require mnch of a political pull to get a postoffice 
in those days. , 

It would be interesting to know the amount of revenue derived 
from the Los Angeles postofSce in 1797. As there were not more 
than half a dozen of the 200 inhabitants of the pueblo that oould 
uopBJi^siuimpB ^o BSBOB^L^yjo dnu9A9J aq:^ ^9xai% ■\'^t{% \^ ^}iiia, puB pvaj 
de correos, la esafeta" (postofiBce,) was not very large, and it is prob- 
able that there were not many aspirants for the position of post- 
master of Los Angeles a century ago.. How it would have aston- 
emos pBq o9^ iCjn^uao « oiqand pio aq:^ jo J9:^8BU4Sod 9q^ P^q^l 
prophet foretold that a hundred years hence the revalues of the Los 
Angeles postofiBce would be over |200,000 a year. 

Under Mexican rule the increased number of vessels plying be- 
tween Mexican and Galifomian ports did away, to a considerable ex- 
tent, with the necessity of carrying mail by land. The official ban- 
dos, reglamentos, pronunciamentos and other important documents 
requiring dispatch (haste was necessary because a revolution might 
overturn the government before the document reached its destina- 
tion,) were carried by couriers over the old Gamino real. We find In 
the old pueblo archives an order from Acting Governor Jimeno, dated 
August 24, 1839, authorizing the Prefect to appoint three collector© 
of duties on liquors — the revenues derived from such collections to 
be applied to the establishing of a monthly postal service to Lower 
Galif ornia and thence to Mexico. The duties were not collected and 
the mail route was not established. 

News from the outside world traveled slowly in those days. An 
American pioneer notes in his diary the receipt of the news of Pres- 
ident W. H. Harrison's death in 1841. It took the news three months 
and twenty days to reach Galifomia. A newspaper from the States a 
year old was fresh and entertaining when Dana was hide droghing 
at San Pedro in 1835. 

After the American conquest of Galifomia the military authori- 
ties established a regular service between San Francisco and San 
Di^o. Soldier carriers starting from each end of the route, met 
half way, and, exchanging mail pouches, each then returned to his 
starting point. It took a fortnight for them to go and return. 

After the soldiers were discharged, in the latter part of 1848, a^ 

semi-monthly, or perhaps it might be more in accordance with the 
facts to say a semi-occasional, mail service was established between 
San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. The mail was carried 



EARLY POSTAL SERVICE OF CALIFORNIA. 2t 

by sailing veBsels (there being no steamers on the coast.) Wind and 
weather permitting, a letter might reach its destination in foar or 
five days, but with the elements against it, it might be delayed a 
fortnight. Masters and supercargoes of vessels took charge of let- 
ters and delivered them to the owners or agcW of some shipping 
house at the port, and in some way the letters reached their desti- 
nation. 

There was no statge line for conveying passengers or mails from 
the embarcadero of San Pedro to Los Angeles previous to 1851. Be- 
fore that time a caballada (band of horses,) was kept in pasture at the 
landing. When a vessel was sighted in the ofSng the mustangs were 
rounded up, driven into a corral, lassoed, saddled and bridled, and 
were ready for the conveyance of passengers to the city. As the 
horses were half broken broncos and the passengers were mostly 
nwcomers from the States, unused to the tricks of bucking mustangs^ 
the trip generally ended in the passenger arriving in the city on foot^ 
the bronco having landed him at some point on the road most oon- 
▼enient to him — ^the bronco — ^not the passenger. 

In '49,' and perhaps before that time, Wilson & Packard, whose 
store was on Main street where the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank 
now stands, were the custodians of the letters for Los Angeles. A 
tub stood on the end of a counter. Into this the letters were 
dumped. Any one expecting a letter was at liberty to sort over the 
contents of the tub and take away his mail. The office or rather 
the postoffice tub, was run on an automatic free-delivery system. 
Ck)l. John O. Wheeler, who had clerked for the firm in 1849, bought 
out the business in 1850, and continued the ^^ale of a Tub," that is, 
continued to receive the letters and other literary contents of the 
mail bag and dump them into the tub. There was no regularly es- 
tablished postoffice, and, of course, no postmaster. An officious pos- 
tal agent of San Francisco found fault with the tub postoffice, and 
the automatic free and easy delivery system. The Colonel, who 
had been accommodating the public free of charge, told the agent 
to take his postoffice elsewhere. The first postoffice in Califomia, 
that of San Francisco, was. established November 9, 1848^ and the 
office at Monterey November 21, 1848. No other offices were estab^ 
lished until November 8, 1849. 

The postoffice at Los Angeles was established April 9, 1860, J. 
Pngh was the first postmaster. The second postmaster was W. T. B. 
Sanf ord, appointed November 6, 1861. (Sanf ord lost his life by tne 



33 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

explosion of the boilers of the little steamer Ada Hancock in Wil- 
mington Bay, April 29, 1863.) The third, Dr. William B. Osbum, 
appointedOctober 12, 1853; James S. Waite was appointed Novem- 
ber, 1855; J. D. Woodworth, May 19, 1858; Thomas J. White, May y, 
3860; William G. Still, June 8, 1861; Francisco P. Bamirez, October 
«22, 1864; Bussell Sackett, May 5, 1865; George J. Clarke, June 25, 
1866; H. K. W. Bent, February 14, 1873; Isaac B. Dunkelberger, 
February 14, 1877. (For the dates given above I am indebted to Gen. 
John B. Mathews, our present efiQcient postmaster.) John W. Green 
was appointed in 1885, Col. Dunkelberger having served two terms 
of four years each. Green was succeeded by E. A. Preuss, who in 
turn was succeeded by Green. Green died in ofSce. H. V. Van 
Dusen filled out the term. The present incumbent, Gen. John B. 
Mathews, was appointed Dec. 20, 1895. Among the pioneer post- 
masters of Los Angeles Dr. William B. Osbum was perhaps the 
most noted. He was known as the ^^most useful man" and could 
turn his hand to almost auything that came along. He was a pioneer 
Vi many enterprises, some useful, others the community could have 
dispensed with. He started the first drug store, opened the first 
auction house, established the first nursery and introduced the first 
ornamental trees and shrubbery in Los Angeles. He was the first 
City Marshal, and the first political boss of Los Angeles. While filling 
the office of postmaster he also was City School Superintendent. He 
was a man of versatile genius and varied attainments. In the po- 
litical battles of the Bosewaters, the Short Hairs and the Plugs — ^the 
political factions of that day — he often snatched victory from the 
very jaws of defeat, by adroitly holding back his reserves in some 
of the outlying precincts controlled by his faction and when it was 
known how many votes were needed he overpowered the opposition 
by an overwhelming vote. 

The duties and the compensation of the postmaster were light. 
In the winter of 1852-3, no mail was received at the Los Angeles office 
for six weeks. 

From the wash tub the Los Angeles postoffice gravitated to a 
soap box. It seemed in early days to keep in the laundry line. The 
office was kept in a little 7x9 room on Los Angeles street, between 
Commercial and Arcadia streets. The letters were kept in a soap 
box partitioned off into pigeon holes. When the postmaster was 
not attending to his auction room, or looking after his nursery, su- 
perintending the schools, or organizing his forces for a political cam- 



EARLY POSTAL SERVICE OF CALIFORNIA. 23 

paign, he attended to the duties of the office. At such times as his 
other duties called him away the office ran itself. If a citizen 
thought there ought to be a letter for him he did not hunt up the 
postmaster but went into the office and looked oyer the mail for him- 
self. 

Upon the arrival of a mail from the "States," there were no such 
scenes enacted at the Los Angeles office as took place at the San 
Francisco office; where men stood in line for hours and f50 slugs 
were exchanged for places in the line near the window. There were 
but few Americans in Los Angeles in the early '50s, and most of 
these were old-timers, long since over their home sickness. Of \he 
new-comers, some were not missed at home, or if missed, they were 
not anxious to let their friends know where they were. A favorite 
form of mail delivery in early days was by pitch and toss. When a 
mail arrived a concourse of the patrons gathered at the office and 
watched over the counter or bar, the postmaster sorting the letters. 
If he found a letter for a spectator, he called out the name and 
with a twirl of the wrist or an overhand toss, sent the letter into the 
outstretched hands of the expectant owner — a form of delivery not 
down in the postal regulations. 

Just where the Los Angeles postoffioe was first located, I am un- 
able to say. In 1852 it was kept in an adobe building on Los Angeles 
street, between Oommeroial and Arcadia, adjoining Osbum's auction 
house. 

In 1854 it was located in the Salazar Row, on Main street, just sonth 
of where the St. Elmo hotel now stands. In January, 1855, it was movtd 
to Los Angeles street, one door above Commercial street. 

From there, when Waite, publisher of the weekly Star, was 
postmaster, it was moved to Temple Block, now Downey Block, op- 
posite Commercial street. From there it was moved to the present 
site of the Bullard Block and from there to the Lanfranco Blook 
on Main street. In 1858, it moved up Main street to a 
building just south of the Pico House; then, after a time, 
it drifted down town to North Spring street, a few doors be- 
low Temple street. In 1861, it was kept in a frame building south of 
the St Elmo, or Lafayette Hotel, as it was then called. In 1865, or 
'66, it again moved up Main street to a building opposite the Bella 
Union Hotel, now the St Charles. In 1867, it was located in the 
Temple Block on North Spring street H. K. W. Bent moved the 
office to Union Block, now Jones Block, on the west side of North 



«4 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

Sprang street, From there, in 1879, when Dnnkelberger was post- 
master, it was moved to the Oxarart Block, on North Spring street, 
near First. In 1885 it was taken to the comer of North Main ana 
Republic sreets, from whence it migrated down Broadway below 
Sixth street. It made its last move in June, 1893, when it reached its 
present location, where after more than forty years of wandering 
through the wilderness of streets, at last it reached its Caanan — a 
home j)f it s own. 

The stage-coach era of mail-carrying continued later in Cali- 
fornia than in any State east of the Mississippi; and it may be said 
that it reached its greatest perfection in this State. Very early in the 
*50s Sacramento became the center of the numerous stage routes of 
Northern California. The old-time stage-driver has been inmiortal- 
i«ed by Bret Harte and Horace Greeley. The first stage ever seen 
in Southern California arrived in Los Angeles in 1851. It was 
^'Gregory's Great Atlantic and Pacific Express" from San Francisco, 
and brought the eastern mails to Los Angeles in the hitherto un- 
heard-of time of "one month and nineteen days." The first over- 
land stage by a southern route started from San Antonio, Tex., and 
followed the extreme southern emigrant route through New Mexico 
and Arizona (or Gadsden Purchase) to California. The first stage 
by this route reached San Diego in August, 1857. The Indians con- 
tracted a bad habit of distributing the mails and the mail-carriers 
over the plains, and the route was abandoned. The Butterfield 
stage route was the longest continuous line ever organized and tlie 
best managed. Its eastern termini were St. Louis and Memphis; its 
western, San Francisco. Its length was 2880 miles. It began opera- 
tion in September, 1858, and the first stage from the East reached 
Los Angeles, October 7, 1858. The schedule time at first between 
St. Louis and San Francisco was twenty-four days; afterward re- 
duced to twenty-one days. The first service was two mail coaches 
each way a week, for which the government paid a subsidy of |600,- 
000 a year. Later on it was increased to six a week and a subsidy ot 
11,000,000 a year. This was in 1861, when it was transferred to the 
central route. In 1859, when the government was paying a subsidy 
of 1600,000 for a semi-weekly service the receipts for the postal reve- 
nue of this route were only |27,000, leaving Uncle Sam over half a 
million out of pocket. 

The Butterfield route from San Francisco southward was by the 
way of San Jos6, Gilroy, Pacheco's Pass, Visalia and Fort Tejon 



EARLY POSTAL SERVICE OF CALIFORNIA n 

to Los Angeles, 462 miles. Eastward from Los Angeles by El Monte, 
Temecula and Warner's ranch to Fort Yuma. From there by Tuc- 
son and El Paso, following the present route of the Southern Pacific 
Railroad ; thence northward to St. Louis, branching at Fort Smith to 
Memphis. 

Los Angeles was proud of its overland stage, and put on metro- 
politan airs. News from the States; fresh news, only twenty days 
old! The Weekly Star rushed out an extra with flaming headlines- 
"Ahead of Time," "A Hundred Guns for the Overland Mail," 
^'Twenty Days from St. Louis." But, alas! the sleepy old dudad 
could not keep awake. The next issue of the Star says : '^The over- 
land mall arrived at midhight. There was no one in the postoffice 
to receive it, and it was carried on to San Francisco," to be returned 
six days later, with all the freshness of the news gone. Los Amge- 
les-never had a mail service so prompt as the Butterfleld was. The 
Star, in lauding it, says: ^^The arrival of the overland mail is as 
regular as the index on the clock points to the hour; as true to time 
B» the dial is to the sun." Although the greater part of the route lay 
through an Indian country, the Indians, from sad experience, had 
learned to let it alone. After the civil war began in 1861 the route 
was abandoned. The Confederates got away with the stock on the 
eastern end and the Apaches destroyed the stock and the stations 
on the western end. 

In 1861, a contract was made with Butterfleld for a six-times-a- 
week mail by the central route, via Salt Lake City, with branch lines 
to Denver. The eastern terminus was at flrst St. Joseph, but on ac- 
count of the war it was changed to Omaha. The western terminus 
was Placerville, Cal.; time, twenty days for eight months, and 
twenty-three days for the remaining four months. The contract was 
for three years, at |1,000,000 a year. 

The last overland stage contract was awarded to Wells, Fargo 
*; Co., on October 1, 1868, for |1,750,000 per annum, with deductions 
for carriage by the railway which was then pushing across the con- 
tinent. 

The mail route via Panama, which had been established in 1849, 
was discontinued in July, 1870. In 1851 the government was paying 
the Paciflc Mail Steamship Company |800,000 a year for a semi- 
monthly service. The postage on letters at flrst was flxed at 40 cents 
and papers 3 cents. Postage on letters to the interior of the State 
was 12% cents. The pony express was established in 1860. The 



a6 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

first messeivger left Ban FranciscOy April 3, 1860, and the first one 
from the East arriyed on the 14th. The time for letters to New York 
was reduced to thirteen days. The ride the ^'plains across" was 
made in about ten days. The stations were about twenty-five miles 
apart, and each rider was expected to span three stations in eight 
hours. The service was semi-weekly. A rider carried a budget of 
fifteen pounds. Letter postage was f5 per half ounce. The enter- 
prise did not pay, and was abandoned on the completion of the over- 
land telegraph in November, 1861. The *^pony express" is the ro- 
mance era of the overland mail service. Its story has been told over 
and over again in prose and verse. The perils of the riders have 
been magnified and the average reader has been led to believe that 
never before or since were there such daring riders and such adven- 
turous couriers, and yet their service was not one whit more perilous 
and was far less laborious than that of the soldier correros who car- 
ried the California mail from Monterey to Loreto nearly a century 
before. 



DR. WILLIAM P. BDQAR. 



BY H. D. BARROWS. 



[Read October 4, 1897.] 

Again is our society called upon to monrn the decease of one of 
its honored members. Dr. William Francis Edgar died at his home 
on Washington street, this city, August 23, 1897, at the age of 73 
years. 

Dr. Edgar was born in Jessamine county, Ky., in 1823, but moTed 
with his parents when a boy to Missouri. He was graduated from 
the University of Louisyille in 1848, and was commissioned as assist- 
ant surgeon in the army, March 2, 1849. He was assigned to a regi- 
ment of Mounted Rifles, which was ordered to Oregon. The com- 
mand reached Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River, in July, 1850, 
remaining there a few months, a portion of the officers, mean while, 
being ordered East on recruiting service, the remainder of the regi- 
ment being transferred to the First Dragoons, under command of 
Maj. Philip Kearney, who had orders to organize an expedition by 
land to California. This expedition, after subduing the hostile 
Rogue River Indians, reached Benicia, Cal., the last of July, 1861; 
from there it went and joined the force at Sonoma, where there were 
stationed at that time Capt. (afterward Gen.) Joe Hooker; Maj. (af- 
terward Gen.) Philip Kearney; Lieut. Derby, the gentle, genial 
humorist, who afterward was so well known by the old residents of 
San Diego, and who acquired a national reputation as '^John Phoe- 
nix," and also two old Los Angelefios, namely, Lieut, (afterward 
Gen. and Governor) George Stoneman, and Dr. John S. Griffin. Of 
all that notable band of heroic officers, now that Dr. Edgar has just 
passed away, only the venerable pioneer, Dr. Griffin, already past 
four score, still survives. 

In the latter i>art of 1851, Dr. Edgar was ordered to Camp (since 
Fort) Miller. 

[NOTE: In the years 1890 and *91, Dr. Edgar contributed to 
our society a series of papers, recounting his experiences as an of- 
ficer of the army in pioneer times at the various frontier forts of the 
Pacific Coast. These very interesting reminiscences were printed 



38 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CAUFORNIA. 

in the annual publication of the aociety for 1893. There is also & 
sketch of Dr. Edgar's life, as dictated to the writer hereof, by him- 
self, in the Illustrated History of Los Angeles County.] 

In 1854, Dr. Edgar, as a member of a company of the First 
Dragoons, assisted in the establshment of Port Tejon, which for 
many years was a very important frontier fort. A pathetic incident 
occurred about this time, which had a far-reaching influence on tne 
Doctor's future, which I cannot forbear recounting here. One night 
in December, while camping in his tent under a tree, he was called 
from a sick bed to go out in the mountains in a blinding snow and 
sleet-storm to attend a wounded man of the fort. The night was 
dark and the ground slippery, causing his horse to lose his footing, 
whereby the doctor was seriously injured. At last, the man was 
found; one of his legs had been broken. A stretcher was improvised, 
and two men and the doctor carried him a couple of miles to an 
abandoned Indian hut, where his wound was dressed. The doctor 
returned to the fort about daylight, wet, cold and exhausted. Di- 
rectly after his arrival at the fort, he was stricken with paralysis 
of the entire left side. 8ome four months after he was able to walk 
and speak, and, with a servant to assist him, he was ordered East on 
a three-months' leave of absence. Although Dr. Edgar lived many 
years afterward in apparent good health and performed complex and 
valuable services for the government, as an army oflScer, it is doubt- 
ful if he ever entirely recovered from the effects of his exposure and 
hurt on that terrible, stormy night in the Tejon Mountains. 

On the expiration of his leave of absence, he reported for duty at 
Jefferson barracks, when he was ordered (with the Second Cavalry) 
to Texas and then to Florida, and from there, with a lot of invalid 

soldiers, to New York Harbor; and the next year, 1857, he returned 
with recruits to the Pacific Coast and to Fort Miller again. After- 
ward he went with troops to Oregon to quell Indian disturbances. 
The force was under Capt. Ord, whose name is not only famous in 
the history of his country as a soldier, but also in the early history 
of Los Angeles as the author of the first important official survey of 
the central portion of the city. 

After being stationed a while at the San Francisco Presidio and 
at Benicia, Dr. Edgar was ordered to join an expedition, in 1858, 
that was to start from Los Angeles against the Mojave Indians. 
This was the first time he saw Los Angeles. After the Mojaves were 
conquered and a treaty of peace had been made, a part of the com- 



DR. WILLIAM F. EDGAR 99 

maud remained to garrison Fort Mojave and the other part returned 
to Lob Angeles and camped near the present site of Gompton ; and 
Dr. Edgar was ordered to San Diego, where he remained till No- 
Tember, 1861, when, with the balance of the regular troops on this 
Coast, he was ordered East to take part in the War of the Rebellion. 

Dr. Edgar remained some time with the Army of the Potomac, 
and then was ordered to Bnell's army in Kentucky, where he soon 
was engaged in organizing a lange general hospital in Louisville, 
which he had charge of until his assignment as medical director at 
Cairo, where, from want of rest or incessant labor and from the op- 
pressiTe climate of summer, he had a partial relapse of the former 
paralysis, which, with other troubles, rendered him unfit for the 
field at the time, and he was ordered before a retiring board in Wash- 
ington. On examination he was retired from active service in the 
field. After recovering from the effects of a severe surgical opera- 
tion he was assigned to duty in the medical director's office in the 
Department of the East, and a part of the time he was a member of 
a board to organize the Signal Corps in Washington. At the close 
of the war he was assigned the duty of disposing of the effects of the 
general hob-pitab of that department, and closing them up. After this 
he was again ordered to the Pacific Coast, and was stationed at 
Drumm barracks, Los An,geles county, in 1866, where he remained 
three years. Finding his health giving way, he was relieved from 
military duty one year, and he retired to his ranch at San Gorgonio, 
San Bernardino county, and while there Congress passed a law (Jan- 
nary, 1870,) which provided that oflBcers retired from active service 
should be relieved from all duty. 

After remaining at his ranch a year or two, and his health im- 
proving, he came to Los Angeles and practiced his profession nearly 
five years. Since 1886, having sold his ranch, he made his home in 
Los Angeles till his death. After all his travels and explorations, 
he assured the writer that he considered Los Angeles the choice 
spot of the Pacific Coast, and of the entire country. 

In 1865, Dr. Edgar was married to Miss Catherine L. Kenneflck, 
a native of New York City, who survives him. The union was an 
ideal one, as all who were at all intimately acquainted with Dr. and 
Mrs. Edgar, will agree. About two and a half years ago Dr. Edgar 
suffered another and third paralytic stroke, which rendered him both 
helpless and speechless, and from which he never recovered, though 
his mind remained clear to the last. The tender, sympathetic care 



30 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

he received from his devoted wife daring his last sickness im- 
measurably mitigated his affliction, if it did not efFectively tend to 
prolong his life. 

Dr. Edgar was a scholar and an earnest student, a thorough 
man of the world, a warm-hearted, genial gentleman, and an accom- 
plished physician and surgeon. A considerable portion of his life 
was spent in the service of his country in the regular army. He 
was held in the highest estimation by his brother officers, as well as 
by civilians wherever he was known. His funeral was largely at- 
tended by the old-timers; his body was attired in the uniform of an 
officer of the United States army; on the coffin rested the beautiful 
sword presented to him many years ago by Gen. Phil. Kearney, and 
after his close friend. Dr. J. P. Widney, had pronounced a fitting 
and appreciative eulogy, and the friends present and his widow over- 
whelmed with grief, had taken a last look, his mortal remains were 
taken to Bosedale Cemetery, where, after "taps" had been sounded — 
"Good-night, good-night, good-night!" — ^they were deposited in their 
last resting place, their final home within the bosom of Mother Earth. 

His sprit, we may hope, has risen to a higher and more etheieal 
sphere, where the possibilities of the soul's progress and development 
are, and, from the nature of things, must be altogether beyond mortal 
conception! 

As was said by the intimate friends of the late Rev. Mr. Birdsall 
at his death, so I think it can be said with truth by those who knew 
Dr. Edgar intimately: ^'We really loved that man!" 

Dr Edgar daring his residence in Southern California of over 
thirty years, mostly at Los Angeles, won the respect and genuine 
friendship of all who knew him well. 

His sterling qualities, his eminent services as assistant medical 
director of the army in the civil war and his long and faithful ser- 
vices on the frontier, as well as his generous benefactions, are cer- 
tainly worthy of being commended without reservation to all the 
world. 



ECHOES FROM THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



BY DR. J. D. MOODY. 



[DeUyered November x, 1897.] 

I have had the good fortnnte, lately, to pick np in an old book 
Btali, two Old boofcs, one a copy of the European Magazine, pub- 
lished in London in 1782, the closing year of our war for inde- 
pendence, and the other, the Political Magazine, likewise pub- 
lished in London, but a few years later, in 1787. 

The European Magazine contained every month a summary of 
parliamentary matters, the burden of which was the American war. 
How vividly those records called up school days in American his- 
tory. How far away those old times seemed. And yet, here were 
the old familiar names, Washington, Greene, Marion, Cornwallis, 
Valley Forge, Yorktown, Eutaw Springs. A report of this latter 
battle read as if it might have occurred but yesterday. 

These records disclose in the very words of the chief actors 
themselves, what a host of friends we had in the British Parliament; 
or rather, what a strong opposition the mad policy of a mad King, 
had in the councils of the government itself. The struggle on the 
part of Great Britain had been a costly one, in men and money. The 
opposition had been gaining ground in proportion as the reverses 
became greater. On the reception of the news of Comwallis's sur- 
render, this feeling culminated in fierce attacks on the government. 

But I will let the books speak for themselves. On November 
27, 1781, the King addressed the House of Lords, in which he used 
the following words: ''No endeavors have been wanting on my 
part to extinguish that spirit of rebellion which our enemies have 
found means to foment and maintain in the colonies, and to restore 
to my deluded subjects in America that happy and prosperous con- 
dition which they formerly derived from a due obedience to the 
laws; but the late misfortune in that quarter calls loudly for your 
firm concurrence and assistance, to frustrate the designs of our 
enemies, equally prejudicial to the real interests of America and 
to those of Great Britain.'' 

We smile when we read ''deluded subjects." How well his ap- 



32 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

peal was received, we learn from a statement that in the House 
of Ck)mmons, on that same day, William Pitt declared that a day 
would soon come, when the issue as to prolonging the war would 
be met. On being asked when that day would arrive, he replied: 
^'Wheu His Majesty's ministers came down and asked for 7000 men 
as a substitution for the army which we had lost." On January 23, 
1782. Mr. Fox, in criticising the government, "then went over a regu- 
lar succession of the principal naval events. He began with the 
system of sending out all of the frigates of this country to America, 
in order to plunder, burn and destroy all the trade and settle- 
ments of the Americans, so as from the infancy of the war to cut 
off all future hones of a reconciliation." On February 22, in tte 
House of Commons, G^n. Conway moved an address to the King, 
desiring His Majesty would discontinue the American war, and in 
which he said ^^e should not state the progress of the war, the large 
supplies which had been granted, the unfortunate applications of 
those supplies; neither should he take notice of the inhuman, cruel 
and uncharacteristical manner the war had been carried on, such as 
burning towns, ravaging countries, destroying commerce." Febru- 
ary 27, continuing his attack on the government, he said: "In the 
name of God, what could be the motive of ministers, that they 
wished to drive every spark of love, every tie of the Americans, 
whom hf would still call brethren, from us? Did we suppose that 
by the infernal plan of desolation, burning, ravaging, slaughtering 
and ravishing of these oppressed people, that we could ever make 

them love us?" 

And yet there are writers who protest that American statements 

as to th»* excesses of the British and Tories during the revolutionary 

war, are overdrawn, and not reliable! Gilmore Sims never put it 

stronger than does Gen. Conway himself. 

Substitute Spain for Great Britain in the above debate, and 
Cuba for America, and it would sound like an Associated Press dis- 
patch of today. Under date of January 22, a news item states that 
"at 1 o'clock the Rt. Hon. the Earl Cornwallis arrived in the metrop- 
olis, accompanied by Gen. Arnold and his family." On March 6, in 
a debate in the House of Commons, Lord Surrey said, "it was a 
matter of great surprise to him, when he attended the Speaker of 
the House to His Majesty, with an address for peace with America, to 
see the man most obnoxious to the Americans, standing at the right 
hand of His Majesty." He spoke of Gen. Arnold. 

Benedict Arnold! How the boys' hearts beat faster and their 



ECHOES FROM THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 35 

hands clenclied, whenever reading that chapter of American his- 
tory detailing Arnold's perfidy! And here, almost a lifetime from 
that stndy, and so unexpectedly, do we come across this old contem- 
poraneous account of him. Even some British hearts rebelled at 
associating with him. 

Under date of January 7, this incident was mentioned: ^'A 
French frigate, having on board troops for America, fell in with 
a British brig— captured it, put a prize crew on board, and went on 
her way. The Englishmen, who had been made prisoners, felt for 
the soft spot in the French, made them drunk, recaptured the brig 
and ran into the English port of Swansea." 

On page 83 I find this very curious incident: "The new ninety- 
gun ship, the Atlas, that was lately launched at Chatham, had at her 
head, the figure of Atlas supporting the globe. By an error of the 
builder, the globe was placed so high, that part of it was obliged to 
be cut away before the bowsprit could be fitted in. This happened to 
be no other than all North America, and what was more remark- 
able, the person who was ordered to take the hatchet and slice it 
off, was an American." 

I do not remember having seen this story in print before. It 
was certainly a very singular coincidence. 

A certain Count O'Bourke of an ancient Irish family, and who 
had been for some time in French service, returned home on the 
breaking out of the American war, and, according to a bioigraphioal 
notice in the magazine, proposed to the British government to raise 
three regiments of Roman Catholics in Ireland to be employed 
against the Americans. His offer was declined. 

On January 31, in the House of Lords, an inquiry was ordered 
as to the execution of Col. Haynes in Charleston. The execution 
was severely condemned as having been done without due process 
of law. All the papers in the case had been cast into the ocean 
by Lord Bawdon. when his vessel was captured, to escape capture 
by the Americans, so no action was taken. In the February num- 
ber is a letter from Col. Stewart of the British army, giving an ac- 
count of the battle of Eutaw Springs, in the September previous. A 
peculiar expression is found in the following extract: "I omitted 
to inform your lordship, in its proper place, of the army's having 
been for some time much in want of bread, there being no old corn 
or mills near me. I was therefore under the necessity of sending 
out rooting parties from each corps under an officer, to collect pota- 



34 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

toes every morning at daybreak." "Rooting parties" is worth resur- 
recting. It will match Sherman's bnmmers. But. shades of Gen, 
Marion, what will we do with that potato story of his now^ 

These, and the following numbers, are largely taken up with bitter 
charges and counter-charges in relation to the American war, and 
principally inspired by the news of the surrender of Lord Com- 
wallis. 

The following news item, under date of February 7, shows that 
the young republic had some sturdy representatives, who knew how 
to talk plain American, and did it, too : "The following requisition 
was delivered on the 9th inst., by Mr. Adams, the Minister Pleni- 
potentiary from the United States of America, at the Hague, to the 
President of the Assembly of their High Mightinesses: ^Sir— On the 
14th of May, I had the honor of a conference with the President of 
the Assembly of their High Mightinesses, in which I informed him 
tliat J had received a commission from the United States of America, 
"viith full powers and instructions to propose and conclude a 
friendly and commercial treaty between the United States of 
America, and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. In the 
same conference I had the honor of demanding an audience of their 
High Mightinesses, for the purpose of presenting credential letters 
and my full powers. The president assured me that he would im- 
part all that I had said to their High Mightinesses, that the af- 
fair might be transmitted to the different members of the sovereignty 
of this country, to undergo their deliberations and decisions. I 
have not yet been honored with an answer, and on that 
account I now have the honor of addressing myself to you, sir, to 
demand of you, as I now do demand, a categorical answer, which I 
may transmit to Congress. J. ADAMS." 

"High Mightinesses" sounds a good deal as though he were ad- 
dressing the big mogul of some modern secret society. 

On February 22 Gen. Conway, in an address to the King, de 
siring that His Majesty would discontinue the American war; plead 
for some attempt to conciliate the American people. He stated 
that they 'liad 76,000 men— on paper — ^in America, the expense of 
which was so great, that he was free to say, that not only this, but 
no country on earth could support it." The world must have 
grown somewhat richer since this 76,000 army was such a financial 
burden. The funny man was in evidence in those days, as well as 
now. The government had appointed a new Secretary of the 



ECHOES FROM THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 35 

American Colonies, a Mr. Ellis. He made his maiden speech. Mr. 
Burke, in answer said "he expected to hear from a new Minister 
of the Cabinet, new measures; but sorry he was to find otherwise. 
The insect was the same when it crawled upon the leaves, as now 
that it had thrown oflf its skin, and blazed out in all the splendor 
of a butterfly — ^its doctrines were the same when it had sat, snug 
rolled up in its woolly coat', as now, that it had expanded its golden 
wings to the sunbeams." And more of the same sort. 

After a heated discussion, a vote was taken on the motion to 
discontinue the American war; 193 votes were cast for the motion 
and 194 against it, a majority of only one to continue the war. 
That was an instance where mighty interests hung on only one vote. 

On February 27, Gen. Conway renewed his motion. He stated 
that petitions had been received from the towns of London and 
Bristol against the war; also, that "you could not go into a cofFee- 
house in any part of the town, but the universal cry was against 
the American war." He spoke of Washington as "that great Gen. 
Washington." He further said: "An honorable gentleman, in last 
Friday's debate, had declared that, lately on the continent he had 
been in company where it was asked of what country he was, and 
on being told he was an Englishman, they all sneered and turned 
up their noses; but afterward, in another company, it was 
whispered he was an American, and he was caressed by every 
one." **The Americans, he had been credily informed, wished for 
peace, but was it possible for any people to be weak enough to trust 
to men that were continually shifting their ground as our present 
Ministers were, calling the war one day a war of posts, another a 
defensive war, and at last a French-American war? He would not 
contend about mere words, for a rose, to be sure, called by any other 
name, would smell full as sweet as if called by its proper name, and 
on that head he would let them have the fragrant smell of the 
word, American." 

"Mr, Hill, in a most laughable vein of ridcule and satire, repro- 
bated the system of His Majesty's Ministers. He said they might 
each be entitled a Don Quixote; the American war was their Dul- 
cinea del Tobosa. Mr. Secretary Ellis was the Bosiante, and he 
would no doubt be, in a short time, raised up to the stall in which 
his predecessor was now ranged, where, perhaps, a sword, found In 
the fields of Minden, would be laid across his chest to be dubbed a 
knight." This badinage could not go on forever. A crisis was 



3^ HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

approachiug. Gen. Conway offered the following motion on the 27th: 

'^Hesolyed) that it is the opinion of this Honse, that the further 
continuance of an offensive war in America, for the purpose of sub- 
duing by force, the revolted colonies, totally impracticable, inas- 
much as it weakens that force which we ought to employ against 
our European enemies, etc., etc." 

Thus we see that it was not altogether our own prowess that 
gained us the victory. 

At 1:30 o'clock in the morning a vote was taken on the gov- 
ernment's motion to postpone further debate for a fortnight. It was 
lost by 19 votes; then the main question, to discontinue the war, wa§ 
put and carried. The chronicler does not give the majority. For 
us, this wab an eventful occasion. The passing of the night in 
England ushered in the dawn of peace in Amerca. 

In the Political Magazine, London, September, 1787, I notice 
the establishment of an Academy of Polite Arts, in Mexico, kk>uth 
America. Evidently geographical distinctions were not very well 
understood in those days. 

In the same number, under the head ^'American Intelligence,' ) 
find this remarkable statement: ^'We learn from Philadelphia that 
ti*ade is nearly extinct; money very scarce, taxes almost insup- 
portable, and the clamor against their feeble government almost 
cniversal." 

In the December number I find the following doleful state- 
ment, taken from a letter: ^'Baltimore is all going to decay. Most 
of the merchants and capital people are become insolvent. The 
newspapers have sometimes eighteen or twenty of their names in 
them of a day as insolvent. This country is ruined by the scarcity 
of money by the weight of taxes, which the people are unable to 
bear and the loss of that trade which she used to enjoy whilst con- 
nected with Great Britain. Most of the people with whom I am ac- 
quainted, many of whom were very zealous in the cause of ind-e 
pendence, are now willing to be once more under British govern- 
ment." 

Like voices from the grave, these echoes from the revolutionary 
times come to us, and freighted vdth the hopes and the bitterness 
of human interests of those far-away times, they bring closer to us 
the men and people of that great struggle for national existence. 



THE OLD PUEBLO ARCHIVES. 



BY J. M. GUINN. 



[Published in Los Angeles Daily Times, November 21, 1897.) 

On a shelf in the vault of the City Hall of Los Angeles there 
stand three qnaint old volumes, ragged, time-worn and brown 
with age. They are labeled "Angeles Archives, Vol. I, Vol. II, Vol. 
Ill," Their contents are written in provincial Spanish, or to de-- 
scribe the language more clearly, it might be called native Califor- 
nian Spanish. 

More than half a century has passed since the last line was * 
written in these old volumes. The handwriting on some of the*^ 
pages is faded and dim with age on others it stands out as boldi^^ 
and clear as the day it was written. 

The books are rich in the autographs of the men who were malr* 
ing California history sixty or seventy years ago, when Dios y Lifr- 
ertad (Ood and liberty) was the motto, and the cactus-percheCi 
eagle the symbol of Mexican domination. 

They abound, too, in wonderfully-constructed rubricas — ^those 
mtricate flourishes of loops, circles and zigzag lines following each 
name, that in Spanish documents take the place of our English 
seal. Every man had one of his own, as distinct from his neighbor's 
as the brand on his cattle, and fully as necessary, for his signature 
was not legal without the rubrica. 

These ribricas are wonders of the penman's art; and the mys- 
tery is how the writer could construct two alike, unless he kept 
a copy before him. Only among a people of illimitable patience 
in a land of poco tiempo would men go through life repeating such 
autographical monstrosities. 

The subject matter of Ihese old volumes is an oUa-podrida — a 
mixture made up of the proceedings of the Ayuntamiento (Municipal 
Council,) election returns, applications for house lots and lands, 
the details of petty trials, treasury accounts, school reports, pronnn- 
oiamentos, the story of a vigilance committee, and the skeletons 
of two or three defunct revolutions thrown into the stew. These 
old books contain, in brief, the story of the civic life of El ^\y^\i\» 



58 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 

and its sncessor. La Ciadad de Nnestra Sefiora de Los Angeles 
(the City of Our Lady of the Angels) under Mexican rule. Their 
contents are not indexed, nor are they arranged in ohronologioai 
order in regard to the occurrence of the events narrated. There 
are breaks in the story of civic iift as told by these old volumes — 
interregnums when apparently the drowsy old ciudad ha3 taken a 
Bip Van Wii.kje sleep. Then, after the lapse of months — sometimes 
yoars— the story goes on as if there wore no missing links in the 
chain of events — ^as if the city had awakened from a refreshing sleep 
and b«^K^iQ bii^inese just where it left ofT months or years before. 

Mingled amid the dry detldls of what the ^'Most Illustrious 
Ayuntamiento" did, and interspersed between the grandiloquent 
speeches that the garrulous old Dons uttered, and the con- 
scientious secretary recorded, we find the record of oustoms long 
siucM* obso1el(\ and of usages and soeiolot^cal conditions now un- 
known. We find in these old records some characteristics of the 
old-time Galifomian that are in contradiction to our preconceived 
o| 'nir.iiH re^ardiu;: him. ^Ve have been a«MMiFUimed to regard hin 
as a lover of pleasure, with nothing of the ascetic in his composi- 
tion; giving his nights to dancing and sometimes his days, too. 
And yet, in these old records we find legal enactments against danc- 
ing that would fade the azure in the old blue laws of Connecticut. 
Proceedings of the Ayuntamiento; Ordinance Six (January 20, 1838:) 
'^Every individual giving a dance at his house or at any other house, 
without first having obtained permission from the Alcalde will be 
•fined ^ for the first offense, and for the second and third punished 
according to law." 

Here is another of the blue laws of old Los Angeles that would 
have called forth approval from the grimmest old Puritan of New 
England in the days of Cotton Mather: 

^^Ordinance 5. All individuals serenading promiscuously around 
the street of the city at night without first having obtained pernus^ 
sion from the Alcalde will be fined |1.50 for the first offense, |3 for 
the second offense, and for the third punished according to law." 

What the penalty of "punished according to law" was. the ordi- 

nanoes do not define. These old lawgivers, however, had a way 

of making the penalty fit the individual. It is safe to say that any 

perenader who had suffered for a first and second offense without 

law, was not anxious to experience a "punishment according to law" 

for the third. 



IHB OLD PUEBLO ARCHIVES. 59 

The "Weary Willies" of that day were compelled to tramp for 
their liTing very mnch as they do now . Ordinance No 4, (January 
^. 1838.) "Every person not having any apparent occupation in 
this city, or its jurisdiction, is hereby ordered to look for work 
within three days, counting from the day this ordinanoe is pub- 
lished, if not complied with, he will be fined |2 for the first oflenieu 
f4 for the second ofFense. and will be given compulsory work for 
the third." 

If he only kept looking for work, but was careful not to find 
it. it would seem from the reading of the ordinance, there could 
be no ofFense, and consequently no fines or compulsory work for the 
tramp. 

The Ayuntamiento, or Municipal Council, which legislated not 
only for the city, but for the country from San Juan on the south 
to San Fernando on the north, was composed of a first alcalde, a 
second alcalde, six reindores (or aldermen,) and a legal adviser. 
The alcaide acted as mayor and president of the council, and 
police judge, the second alcalde taking his place when he was 
ill or absent. As the regidores, or councilmen, received no 
pay, and were liable to a fine of |3 for absence from meetings, 
the office was not sought after. Besides, when a man was elected 
to it, was next to impossible for him to resign. The tribulations 
of Regidor Pantoja well illustrate the difficulties of getting rid of an 
office in the good old days when the office sought the man. Fran- 
cisco Pantoja was elected fourth regidor in the Ayuntamiento % of 
1837. In those days wild horses were very numerous >and on ac- 
count of their eating up the pasturage needed for the cattle, the 
rancheros slaughtered them. A large and strong corral was built, 
and a day set for a wild-horse drive. The band was driven into the 
corral, the best of the drove lassoed and taken out to be broken 
to the saddle, and the refuse slaughtered. 

The Vejars petitioned the Ayuntamiento for permission to build 
a corral between the Gerritos and the Salinas, for the purpose of cor- 
ralling wild horses for slaughter;and Tomas Talamantesmade a simi- 
lar request to build a corral on the Sierra San Pedro. When the cor- 
rals were built a time was appointed for a wild-horse rodeo. Pan- 
toja, being something of a sport, petitioned his fellow-counoilmen 
for a twenty days' leave of absence to join in a wild-horse chase. 
After many admonitions from his fellow-regidores to be careful not 
to get away with his neighbors' tame horses, he was granted a leave 



4o HiSTOkiCAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 

of absence. A wild-horee chase was wild sport, and dangerous, too. 
Somebody was sure to get hurt, and Panto ja was one of the uu- 

fortunates. [ 

"Of all the rid**s since the birth of Time, 

Told in story op sung in rhyme," 
none, perhaps, surpassed in mad recklessness that of Pantoja and 
hid fellow -caballeros at the wild-horse chase of the Cerritos. When 
his twenty-day leave of absence was up, Pantoja did not return 
to the halls of legislation, but instead, sent his resignation on the 
plea of illness. 

In those days the office sought the man, not the man the office, 
Und it might be added that when the office caught the right man 
it refused to let go of him without good cause (at least that was the 
case when there was no pay in the office.) The president of the 
Council refused to accept his resignation, and appointed a commit- 
tee to hold an investigation on his physical condition. There were 
no physicians in Los Angeles then, so the committee took along San- 
tiago McKinley, a canny Scotch merchant, who was reputed to nave 
some knowledge of snidery. The committee and the improvised sur 
geon held an ante-mortem inquest on what remained of Pantoji^. 
The committee reported to the council that he was a physical wreck; 
that he could neither mount a horse nor ride one when mounted. 
A native Galifornian who had reached such a state of physical di- 
lapidation that he could not mount a horse might well be excused 
from legislaton. But there was danger of a precedent. The Council 
heard the report, pondered over it, smoked over it, and pondered 
again, then sent the resignation and the committee's report to the 
Governor. That functionary took it under advisement, and after 
studying over it for two or three months, accepted it. In the mean 
ime, Pantoja's term had expired by limitation and he had recovered 
from his fall. 

Unlike Borneo, the old-time native Californian believed there 
was something in a name. He seemed to think there was a kind of 
talismanic influence in a holy name that protected the bearer from 
evil. Therefore, it was with no thought of irreverence or disrespect 
that he named a favorite son Jesus, or interpolated the name of 
the deity in his family surname. The old pueblo records abound 
in quaint and curious family names. 

Juan de Dios Bravo, John Valiant of God, was a well-known 
character who figured in the early history of the pueblo. Although 



THE OLD PUEBLO ARCHIVED At 

John may have been 'Valiant for God" in his youth, in his later 
years he seems to have fallen from grace. He kept a saloon, and the 
records show that on several occasions he was fined — probably for 
selling brandy on Sunday during '^the hour set apart for prayer for 
souls in purgatory." 

Another family name that appears in the old records, and that 
discounts in fiery zeal the Praise-Ood Barebones and Outof-Much- 
Tribulation-into-the-Glory of God Mugglestones, of Cromwell's time, 
IsthedeDios Padillas (Little Prying Pans of God,) Juan de Dios Pa- 
dilla — John Little Frying Pan of God — was a prominent citizen of 
Los Angeles sixty or seventy years ago. One of the family taught 
school at San Antonio, and doubtless made it hot for the bad boys, 
Jos^ de la Cruz Linares — Joseph Flax Fields of the Cross — was the 
first grantee of the Bancho Los Nogales. 

Money was always a very scaroe article in the early days of Los 
Angeles. What little business was transacted was done by ex- 
change of products. In the revolutionary»days of the early 30's, when 
California had from two to three rival governors running around 
loose and stirring up revolutions, the capitalists of the old pueblo 
hoarded up the few pesos and reales that had been in circulation, 
and the financial stringency in 1837 became so great that the Al- 
calde reported to the Ayuntamiento that he was compelled to take 
country produce for fines. He had already received eight colts, six 
fanegas (about 9 bushels) of corn, and 35 hides. The Syndic im- 
mediately laid claim to the colts on his back salary. The Alcalde 
put in a preferred claim of his own, and besides he said ''he had 
boarded the colts." After considerable discussion, the Alcalde was 
ordered to turn the colts over to the City Treasurer to be appraised 
and paid out on claims against the city. In the mean time it was 
found that two of the colts had run away and the remaining six had 
demonetized the com received for fines, by eating it up — a contrac- 
tion of the currency that exceeded in heinousness the "Crime of '73." 

Sixty years ago Los Angeles had but recently put on city airs. 
The supreme government of Mexico had decreed it the capital of 
California — a territory in area larger than that possessed by the 
thirteen colonies at the beginning of the revolutionary war. It was 
then the only city on the Pacific Coast north of Cape St. Lucas, and 
was the largest town in either of the Califomias. Jos6 Antonio Ca- 
rillo estimated its population at 1500, and Jos6 Sepulveda stated In 
the Ayuntamiento that the city was experiencing a boom, or ^qjqi^ 



43 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

to that effect; and yet with all the city's importance it wonld have 
been hard to find a civilized community living in more primitive 
conditions than those which existed in the metropolis of California 
in the year of our Lord 1837. There was not within its jnrisdiction 
a lawyer or a doctor nor a resident priest, or preacher of any kiu6. 
The schoolmaster was abroad, or if he was at home, he had taken a 
long vacation. The school had been closed for two years. 

Money was almost unknown. Horses and cattle were the cir- 
cnlating medium of large denominations, and hides were the sub- 
sidiary coin or small change ;com had been demonetized by the crime 
of '37, and doubtless the calamity howlers of that day were bewail- 
ing the outrage. There was no hotel in the city, no schoolhouse ana 
no public buildings except the church and the jail ; no newspapers, ne 
books and a mail but once a month. 

How rapidly the wheels of progress have whirled in sixty 
years! How men's minds have broadened and their religious animos- 
ities softened. On the 17th of January, 1837, the members of the 
Ayuntamiento of Los Angeles, without a dissenting voice, promul- 
gated this edict as part of their plan of government: 

** Article 3., The Roman Catholic apostolic religion shall pre- 
vail throughout this jurisdiction; and any person professing publicly 
any other religion shall be prosecuted." The deeds of the old Dons 
who published that edictt were better than their words. There ib no 
record that they ever prosecuted any one for his belief or unbelief. 

The old-time Begidores who legislated for the city in its earlier 
days may have been back numbers in many respcets, but in one 
thing at least they were far in advance of our up-to-date Councilmen 
of late years; and that was in a conscientious regard for the best in- 
terests of their constituents. When there was a deadlock in their 
Council, or when some question of great importance to the welfare 
of the public came before them, and they were divided as to what 
was best to do, or when some designing politician was attempting 
to sway their decision so as to obtain personal gain at the expense 
of the community, then the "public alarm," as it was called, was 
sounded ,the citizens assembled at the Council Hall, the president, 
''speaking in a loud voice," stated the question to the people. Every 
one had a chance to make a speech. Rivers of eloquence flowed; and 
when all who wished to speak had had their say, the- question was 
decided by a show of hands, and all went home happy to think the 
country was saved and that they each and all, had had something 
to do in saving it. The clang of the bell or the roll of the drum 
that sounded the "public alarm" exorcised the malign influence of 
the political boss and thwarted the machinations of the scheming 
politician. 



DON DAVID W. ALEXANDER. 



BY H. D. BARROWS. 



[Read Jnne, 1897.] 

In October, 1863, Mr. Alexander reconnted to me the main facts 
of the following brief sketch of his life. He said he was bom in 
Ireland, Jane 22, 1812, and that he came to the United States with 
a brother in 1832, when he was 20 years old. He resided in Phila- 
delphia some three or four years, and from there he went to Roche- 
port, Boone connty, Mo., where he remained a conple years, and 
from thence, in 1837, he went with a trading company to Banta F6, 
arriving there just after there had been an insurrection, in which 
the people had beheaded their Oovernor, Perez. He engaged in busi- 
ness there till 1842 with John Scully, who was well known in that 
country, buying goods in Chihuahua and wines in El Paso and sell- 
ing them at Santa F^. 

A bad feeling having been engendered against foreigners because 
of the aggressions of Texans, Mr. Alexander concluded to leave for 
California, in company with John Rowland, John Reed, William 
Knight (of Knight's Ferry,) Maj. T^oring (who afterward died at La 
Puente, in this county,) and others, who came to settle as rancheros. 
Not a single member of this party is now living. Three of their 
number, Rowland, Reed and Alexander, I knew very well. Mr. 
Alexander told me that they arrived at Cucamonga on the 12th ot 
December, 1841. They were four months on the road in their jour- 
ney hither from Santa P^. They came by- what was known as "the 
old Mexican trail," via the Wasatch Mountains and Little Salt 
Lake, the country along that route being at that time entirely unin- 
habited except by Indians. 

Mr. Alexander settled and lived for some time on "the Rincon^' 
Rancho, in what is now San Bernardino county. He then went to 
San Pedro and carried on the forwarding and lightering business at 
that port, from 1844 till 1849, or till after the great gojd discoveries. 
He then went into the mercantile business with Francis Melius at 
Los Angeles. His firm brought out several ship cargoes to San V^ 



44 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

dro direct from Boston. Dnring this time he formed a co-partnership 
with Phineas Banning in the forwarding and commission basiness 
at San Pedro, continuing in the same till 1855, when he sold ont Us 
interest. Commodore Stockton, in 1846, appointed him Collector of 
the Port of San Pedro. At and prior to that time he had held the 
office of Captain de la Puerte under the Mexican government for a 
year or two. In the exciting times of 1846 he strongly favored the 
Americans and with a number of the latter he was made a prisoner 
by the Californians and held as such four months. The ranohos of 
Tejunga and La Providencia in this county w^re finally, confirmed 
to Mr. Alexander by the United States courts. He was elected and 
served as Sheriff of Los Angeles county for the term of 1855-'56 and 
also of 1876-'77. He was three times elected a member of the Board 
of Supervisors, and was president of the board two terms. In 1866 
or '57 he again became a ranchero, living on the San Emigdio Bancho 
several years. His brother, Oeorge Alexander, came to California 
via Honolulu in 1851. He lived for a considerable period in Los 
Angeles, and was well and favorably known by old-timers. He 
served with Gen. Carlton's command in California, Arizona and 
New Mexico during the civil war. He died some years ago. 

"Don David Alexander," who was so widely and so favorably 
known, not only by Americans, but by the Spanish-speaking people 
of Southern California, was a man of sterling character, of amiable, 
genial temper, causing him to be generally respected and beloved. 
All old Californians still living who became acquainted with him set 
all intimately have only pleasant memories of him. 

Don David wq,s married to Do&a Adalaida Melius, 
widow of Don Pancho (Francis) Melius, in 1864. Mrs. Alexander 
was the daughter of Santiago Johnson and not, as incorrectly stated 
in Bancroft's Pioneer Register, the daughter of Manuel Bequena. 
Don Manuel had no children. His wife and the wives of Don San- 
tiago (James) Johnson, and of Capt. Alexander Bell were sisters. 
Their family name was Guirado and they were sisters of Rafael 
Ouirado, father of Gov. Downey's first wife, and of Bernardino an|i 
B. C. Guirado, still living, and of Maj. Frank Guirado, now deceased. 
Mr. Johnson had several daughters, one married, as above stated, 
Francis Melius, and .then Mr. Alexander. She is still living in this 
city. Another daughter married Henry Melius, brother of Francis, 
and at one time Mayor of Los Angeles, and for her second husband. 



DON DAVID W. ALEXANDER. 45 

J. B. Trndell; and a third danghter married James H. Lander, in 
early times a prominent lawyer of this city. All these persons, with 
the exceptions noted, are now dead, althongh they have nnmerons 
living descendants. I was personally acqnainted with nearly every 
Dne of the former generation. 

Mr. Alexander died at Wilmington, April 30, 1887, in the sev- 
enty-fifth year of his age. Mr8.~^,Alexander possess a very life- 
like portrait of him, which all ^'old-timers" who survive him cannot 
fail, on sight, to quickly recognize. 



CANTILEVER BRIDGE OF THE COLORADO, 



BY MRS. M. BURTON WILLIAMSON. 



[Read NoTcmber i, 1897.] 
(A part of this paper was published in the S. P. Call.) 

In Sonthem California we seldom mention the size of onr rivers. 
Ezoepting during the winter rains, onr riyers are tabooed as a dry 
subject. The fact that the wonderful system of irrigation utilizes 
almost every drop of available river water, makes them seem to east- 
erners little more than creeks in the summer time. Then, besides 
the irrigation drain of the rivers in Southern California, these 
streams have a habit of Binklug below their sandy beds in the dry 
season. 

But the river that marks the boundary between Southern Cal- 
ifornia and Arizona^ the Colorado Bivei, is an exception. This river, 
after running through the most wonderful chasm or system of gorges 
known in the world, runs its course through the Colorado Desert 
down to the Gulf of California in Mexico. 

At the foot of the Mohave Mountains, thirteen miles below the 
quaint little town called ^*Tbe Needles*'— so named because at this 
place there is a group of sharp spires in the Mohave Mountains — 
the cantilever bridge crosses the Colorado River between Arizona 
Territory and California. 

Travelers bound for the Pacific Slope, crossing this bridge at 
the Needles, are often informed that they are entering the "Land of 
Sunshine" on the "longest single span cantilever bridge in the world, 
with one exception." Although this is taken as an extravagant bit 
of local pride, yet it was strictly true when the bridge was built. Ur. 
James P. Booth, surgeon of the Bridge Company, says of the canti- 
lever bridge of the Colorado Biver built in 1890, having a total length 
of 960 feet, with a single span 660 feet, that at the time of its com- 
pletion it was the ^^ongest unsupported bridge span in the world, 
excepting that of the bridge at the Pirth of Forth," at Queen's Ferry, 
Scotland. According to the Glasgow Citizen, this bridge, at Queen's 
Perry, is one of the wonders of the world. It has two spans, eacn 
of them 1700 feet, and the bridge cost 4,000,000 pounds. 



THE OANTILBVBR BRIDGE OF THE COLORADO, 47 

The flnt cantileTer bridge built in the United States was the 
Niagara bridige, bnilt in 1883, at that time it was the first of any 
magnitude in the world, the Firth of Forth bridge not having beeii 
bnilt. It was considered a marked advance in engineering. It may 
seem x>aradoxical, bnt the principle of the cantilever bridge is f onnd 
in the simplest and earliest forms of bridge bnilding. Chambers' En- 
cyclopedia says the Japanese ^'wonld lay two balks of timber embed- 
ding one in one bank and the other in the other bank, with their 
ends projecting over the stream so as to form two cantilevers, and 
would then add a center balk, reaching from one to the other;" and 
that a good bridge of this kind was built in Japan over ^'two hun- 
dred years ago." So much for the simple form or principle of the 
cantilever. The term itself is defined as meaning a '^bracket." 

The long span of the present system of cantilever, iljustrated 
in the Niagara bridge, having a total length of 910 feet, with its sm- 
gle span of 470 feet — according to the Scientific American — wan ozt- 
rivaled by the cantilever bridge of the Colorado, whose span, as nas 
been noted, was 660 feet. 

There are other cantilever bridges in the United States, one 
crosses the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; one crosses the Ohio at 

Lousville,, Ky. 

Dr. James P. Booth, whom I have mentioned as surgeon of the 
Bridge ConKpany, has very kindly furnished me with data on this 
subject. In a letter he says: '^On account of the unsafe condition of 
the wooden bridge, which spanned the Colorado three miles directly 
east from the town of the Needles, it was resolved by the A. aniTP. 
Company to c<mstruct an iron bridge ten miles (thirteen nuies iroici 
the Needles) further down the stream. This work was begun in 
September, 1889, and the first train crossed the bridge on May 10, 
1890. 

'^The preliminary work consisted in sinking down to bed rock, 
which was done by caissons, and building up above the point of high- 
water mark on both sides of and in the river, two huge pillars of 
stone and cement. This work was done by Sooy, Smith & Co. of Chi- 
cago. The ends of the iron bridge are securely anchored by heavy 
masonry to the mainland on either side, while the greatest portion 
of the weight is thus brought to bear upon the two pillars. The 
bridge — ^that is, the iron work — was built and put up by the Phoenix 
Bridge Company of Phoenix, Pa., and is said to be one of the finest 
and most substantial bridges in the world." Dt« Bq^\!^ ^^^^ XXl^ 



48 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CAUFORNIA. 

length and cost of bnilding this bridge, as noted before. He far- 
ther says: 

^'In the photograph sent yon, yon will observe something resem- 
bling a platform near the center of the bridge. This photograph 
was taken before the bridge was completed and the platform is what 
the builders called ^the traveler.' This 'traveler' went ahead of the 
work, carrying material for the construction of the bridge, and para- 
doxical as it may appear, the bridge was built behind the 'traveler/ 
Two iron rails extended beyond the work upon which the wheels of 
the 'traveler' rolled, and thus it was that the 'traveler' was enabled 
to precede the bridge itself. 

"The building of these bridges is usually very perilous work an<l 
the principal workmen are experts. Indeed, to one watching the 
progress of building, it appears a trade in itself. The management 
informed me that they usually lost from eight to twelve men in the 
construction of a bridge, but in the building of this bridge there 
were but three killed. One was blown up by a premature blast of 
rock, one had a hand car of heavy iron topple over and crush him, 
and the third fell from the top of the bridge to the ground on the 
California side just after the work was begun. 

"Boats (steamers) pass under the bridge now during the high 
water season without any difSculty, and the expense of a draw 
bridge, which was a necessity with the old bridge, is entirely done 
away with." 

Is it any wonder that Arizonans and Galifomians join in calling 
the link that connects the Territory and the State "the great canti- 
lever bridge?" It was an evolution in bridge building that no one 
could have contemplated a quarter of a century ago. 



LOS ANGELES IN THE ADOBE AQE. 



BY J. M. GUINN. 



[PnbliBhed in Los Angeles Daily Times, Jan. 1, 1898.] 

Cities in their growth and development pass through distinctive 
ages in the nse of the material of which they are built. Most of th e 
cities of the United States began their existence in the wooden 
age, anonave progressed successively through the brick and stone 
age^^ejron^^ and are enterinig.upim-the.stieel age. The cities 
of thcTextreme Southwest — those of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and 
Southern California — like ancient Babvlon and imperial Rome, began 
^eir exis tPfif>P ii ^ f lip niay nr ^ Hnhft ap;p. It took our own citv of Los 

Jj^j^"^ tbrff-gnnr^^'^ ^f a cgp^y^ ^^ om^rg^ frnm fh^ uAr^^ ^g^^^ 

At the time of the final conquest of the city by the United States 
troops (January 10, 1847, ) there was not within its limits (if I "aih 
rightly informed,) a building built of any other materi al th an adobe, 
or su n-dried brick. The first wooden building built in Los Angeles 
was erected in 1861. It was framed in Boston, and the material, all 
shaped ready for putting together, was shipped around the Horn — a 
sea voyage of 18,000 miles. The material was hauled from San Pedro 
to the city on old carretas or Mexican ox carts. This building was 
erected on the site now occupied by the old Merced Theater, on North 
Main street, just south of the Pico House, or National Hotel, as it 
is now called. Another wooden building, among the first built in the 
dt>', was the **Three Sisters," so called from its three gables and 
parallel roof ridges giving it the appearance of three separate houses. 
It was built by Henry Dalton. The material in it was mahogany, 
brought from C^itral America. It stood on the southern part of the 
present site of the Central Block on North Spring street. The jyjst 
iron kouse was built, in. J ij52. The material, shaped and numbered 
ready for putting together, was shipped from England to Los Angeles 
v ia^Cape Horn . It stood on or near the comer of Court anS North 
Spring street. The first brick burned in the city was made by Jesse 
Hunter in 1852. The first brick house was built by Hunter in 1853. 
It 18 still standing. It is the story-and-a-half dwelling just north ot 



50 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

the Van Nuys Hotel, on the Downey property, west side of Main 
street near Fourth street. It was considered in early 
days quite an aristocratic residence. Adob e as a boild- 
ing material continued to be used to a limited extent for 
at least a decade after the American conquest. It fell 
into disuse, not because it was expensive or hPOA^np \\ wfm nngn^ff<i 
tdjy^6jQlJilQ§lg — Ai^ adobe house, well constructed, is one of the most 
comfortable of dwellings, warm in winter, cool in summer. It fell 
into disuse because the proc ess of preparing and b uilding with it wa s 
too tedious and too slow Tor a fast^^ An adobe house, like Rome, 
wasliol bulIFm arSay.'** IttoolLTfTe yelirs to build the Plaza Churcn. 
Having briefly sketched the transition period of our city's growUt, 
when wood and brick came into use as building material, I turn back 
to my theme, the adobe age of the old pueblo. 

A century ago Los Angeles was a^ waUfid.iQwnr-its walls, like 
those of Bome in Bomulus's day, were built of chgi y. A guard of the 
King's soldiers nightly kept watch and ward over the sleeping town. 
Every male inhabitant of military age was enrolled for duty. The 
Indians were numerous and predatory, if not blood-thirsty. Fifty 
years after the first settlement Indian scares still continued, and a 
guard was kept on duty at the cuartel that stood on the eastern side 
of the plaza vieja. By the begin ning of the presen t century t he 
town had grown b fjOTid ttlP Wi^^^*^. As it grew, it straggled oflf f yom 
it^ nucleus — ^the old plaz a— in an irregular sort of a way, w ithout 
plot or plan, 

When a new house was needed — ^and a house was not built in 
those d ays un til there was urgent need for it — ^the builder selected 
a site and applied to the Ayuntamiento for a grant of a piece of the 
pueblo lands. If no one claimed the lot asked for, he was granted it. 
If he did not build a house on it within a given time — usually a year 
from the time the /grant was made — any citizen could denounce the 
property, and with permission of the Ayuntamiento take possession 
of it. The builder of a new house built it wherever it was m ost con- 

Yftniftnl JMlh;;jg^^^ ^"J.!!?^E3M!3.t';!i;t!!!^" ^^ ^® house did not align 
with the street ^e street coul d adjust itself to Jhe, house, jgalfji 
^Sfintury-aftexL^e fitnnding tif thft pup hlo. here was not a regularl y- 
lfii<i.#)j^| s treet within its lim i tfl. In 1849, when Lieut. Ord made his 
plan of the ^'Ciudad de Los Angeles," some of the houses stood in the 
middle of the newly-laid-off streets and others half way between two 
streets, with a frontage on neither. After much tribulation in try- 



L08 ANQBLB8 IN THE ADOBE AOB 5x 

ing to adjust street lines and property lines, the City Council, in 
1854, passed an ordinance allowing the owners of houses debarred of 
street frontage to take possession of the land between them and the 
nearest street. 

The archi tecture of the adobe age had no freaks or fads in it. 
Like the laws of the Medes and Persians, it altere d not . There was, 
with but very few exceptions, but one style of house — ^the square- 
walled, flat-roofed, one-s tory str ucture — looking, as a writer of early 
times says, 'Hjike so many brick kilns ready for the burning." Al- 
though there were picturesque homes in California under the Mexi- 
can regime, and the quaint mission buildings of the Spanish era were 
massive and imposing, yet th e averay^e town house of the native Cali- 
fomian, with its clay-cokucedadobe walls, it s flat asp haltum-covered 
r oof, its gron nd floor ^^ j^a irn^-harrpfi winiln^a^ was as devoid o f 
be anty without as it was o^ comfort and convenience within . Imaigi- 
native modem writers speak of the "quaint tiled roofs of old Los 
Angeles," as if they were a prominent feature of the old pueblo. 

Even in the palmiest days of its Mexican occupation tiled roofs 
were the fTppptir^p. Besides the church and the cuartel the other 
buildings that obtained distinction of being roofed with tiles were 
the Carillo House, that stood on the present site of the Pico House; 
the house erected by Jos^ Maria Avila on Main street north of the 
church; Don Vicente Sanchez's house, a two-story adobe on the east 
side of the Plaza; the Alvarado house, on First street between Main 
and Los Angeles streets, and the house of Antonio Bocha, on the 
present site of the Phillips Block. All these residences were erected 
between 1822 and 1828. The old^uartel (guardhouse) was built about 
1790, and the Plaza Church was begun in 1818. At the time of the 
American conquest of California tile-making was practically a lost 
art It died out with the decadgac^^orSe^^ It is to be re- 

gretted that the tiled roof of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels 
was replaced by a shingled one when the building was remodeled in 
1861. ^^The fitness of things" was violated when the change was 
made. It was only the aristocrats of the old pueblo who could ai- 
ford to indulge in tiled roofs. The prevailing roofing material was 
br^uir crude asphaltum. 

^"james O. Pattie, a Kentucky trapper, who visited Los Angeles 
in 1828, and wrote a narrative of his adventures in California, thu^ 
describes the buildings in it and the manner of roofing them : 

^The houses have flat roofs, covered with bituminous pitch 



S2 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

brought from a place within four miles of the town, where this arti- 
cle boilfl np from the earth. As the liquid risea, hollow bubbles like 
a shell of large size are formed. When tley burst the noise is heard 
distinctly in the town. The large pieces thus separated are laid o n 
t he roof, previously covered with earth , th rough which t he pitch can - 
not penetrate when it is rendered liquid again by the heat of the san.'^ 
"" This roof factory that Pattie describes seems to have ceaaed 
operations of late years; possibly because there is no demand for its 
product. This incipient volcano was still in operation when Fre- 
mont's battalion passed it in 1847. Lieut. Bryant, in his book, 
'^What I Baw in California," says '^on the march from Cahuenga 
Pass to the City of Angels we passed several warm springs which 
throw up large quantities of bitumen or mineral tar." These springs 
are located on the Hancock Bancho west of the city. 

The adobe age was not an aesthetic age. The old pueblo was 
homely almost to ugliness. The clay:£<plQ]:edJbumts of the houses 
that marked the lines of the irregular streets were gloomy and unin- 
yiting. There was no glass i n the windows; no lawns in front; no 
sidewalks^ and no sh ade tre ee. But even amid these homely sur- 
roundings there were aesthetic souls that dreamed dreams of beauty 
and yearned for better things. The famous speech of Begidor 
Leonardo Cota, delivered in the Ayuntamiento nearly sixty years 
ago, has come down to us in its entirety, and stamps its author as a 
man in advance of the age in which he lived. 4 It has in it the hope- 
fulness of boom literature, although somewhat saddened by the 
gloom of uncongenial suroundings. 

"The time has arrived," said he, "when the city of Los Angeles 
begins to figure in the political world, as it now finds itself the capi- 
tal of the department. Now to complete the necessary work that, 
although it is but a small town, it should proceed to show its beauty^ 
its splendor and its magnificence in such a manner that when the 
traveler visits us he may say, 'I have seen the City of the Angels; I 
have seen the work of its sanitary commission, and all these demon- 
strate that it is a Mexican Paradise.' It is not so under the present 
conditions, for the majority of its buildings present a gloomy— a, 
melancholy aspect, a dark and forbidding aspect, that x^emble s 
the catacombs of ancient Borne more than the hahitfitions^ of a free 
people, I "make these propositions: First, that the governmenTbe 
requested to enact measures so that within four months all the house- 
fronts shall be plastered and whitewashed; second, that all owners 



LOS AN0BLB8 IN THE ADOBE AOE. 5$ 

be requested to repair the same or open the door for the dennnciator. 
If yon adopt and enforce these measures, I shall feel that I have done 
something for my city and my country." 

Don Leonardo's eloquent appeal moved the department assembly 
to pass a law requiring the plastering and whitewashing of the 
house fronts, under penalty of fines ranging from |6 to |25 if the 
work was not done within a given time. For a while there was a 
whitening of house-fronts and a brightening of interiors. The sin- 
dico's account-book in the old archives contains a charge of twelve 
reales for a fanega (one and one-half bushels) of lime ''to whitewash 
the court." Although lime is cheaper now, I doubt whether twelve 
reales' worth of it would give a coat of whitewash to some city of- 
ficials. 

Don Leonardo's dream of transforming the "City of the Angels" 
into a Mexican paradise was never realized. The fines were never 
collected. The whitewash faded from the house-fronts and was not 
renewed. The old pueblo again took on the gloom of the Catacombs. 

In the adobe age every man owned his own house. No houses 
were built for rent, nor for sale on speculation. The real estate agent 
was unknown. When travelers or strangers from other towns paid 
a visit to the old pueblo they were entertained at private houses, or 
if no one opened his doors to them they moved on to the nearest mis- 
sion, where they were sure of a night's lodging. 

In 1834, Gk>v. Figueroa notified the Ayuntamiento that he was 
about to visit the pueblo and desired accommodations for himself 
and staff. The town council asked the priest to give up his house 
to the (Governor, but the padre refused, saying that his rooms be- 
longed to the church, and to surrender them to the civil power would 
be giving up his ecclesiastical rights. 80 the Governor gave up his 
projected visit because the town was too poor to entertain him. 
Notwithstanding the technical point urged by the padre, the civil 
power did make use of his house. When there was no resident 
priest in the pueblo, which frequently happened, the padre's house 
was put to a variety of uses. Several times it was used for a boys' 
school ; once for a girls' school, and after a revolution, if the cuartel 
was not large enough to accommodate all the prisoners, the curate's 
bouse was taken for a jail. During the revolution of 1845 the school 
was turned out and the old house was used by Pico and Castro for 
army headquarters. This useful old building, which stood near the 



54 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CAUFORNIA. 

northwest corner of the Plaza church, was bnmed down abont f ortj 
years ago. 

In 1835 the Mexican Congress proclaimed Los Angeles the capi- 
tal of Alta California. Commissioners were appointed to find suita- 
ble quarters for government of9ces until a govemment house could 
be built. Don Louis Vignes's house, which stood on the present 
site of the Philadelphia Brewery, was offered at a yearly rental of 
f400. Don Juan Temple's house later on. was also offered. During 
the ten years that the capital question was agitated, periodical house 
hunts were made for governmental headquarters, but nothing came 
of them. The people of Monterey held on to the governors and the 
archives and added insult to injury by claiming that they were more 
moral and more cultured than the Angelefios. They claimed they 
iiad a fertile soil, a mild climate and that their women and useful 
;animals were very productive — insinuations that enraged the An- 
gelefios. The bitter feeling engendered between the arribefios (up- 
pers) of the North and the abajeflos (lowers) of the South over the 
capital question was the beginning of the jealousy between Northern 
and Southern California — a jealousy that has been kept alive for 
more than sixty years. The capital question was the pricipal cause 
of the civil war between the North and the South in 1837 — ^a war 
which resulted in the subjugation of the South and the triumph of 
Monterey. It was not a very bloody war. At the battle of San 
Buenaventura, where for two days cannon "volley'd and thundered," 
one man was killed on the northern side. At the battle of Las Flores 
the southern army was severely scared, driven into a cattle corral 
and captured — probably lassoed. In the revolution of 1845 the aba- 
jeflos won. At the battle of Cahuenga — a battle that raged for two 
days, and resulted in the killing of a mule — Pico and Carillo of 
the South defeated Micheltorena of the North. The decisive battle 
of Cahuenga made Pico Governor of California and Los Angeles its 
capital. Next year the gringo army came, captured the country and 
carried the capital back to Monterey. 

While Los Angeles was the capital, the government hous e was 
an adobe building that stood on the present site of the St. Charles 
fioteL Itwas used in 1847 by two companies of the United States 
Dragoons as barracks, and when the county was organized in 1850 
it became the ^Tf^ '^OT^^^^ftVafr The lot extended through to Los 
Angeles street. In an adobe building on the rear of this lot the first 



LOS ANGELES IN THE ADOBE AQE 55 

newspaper — ^La Estrella (The Star)— ever issued in Los Angeles was 
printed. 

The old adobe government house had rather an eventful history. 
It was buil t in the ea rl y thirt iep. Pico bought it f or the governmen t 
from Isaac^WJLlliftms, agreeing to pay fSOOO for it. In 1846, when 
hostilities had broken out between the Americans and the native 
Califomians in the North, Pico, "to meet urgent expenses necessary 
to be made by the government,'' mortgaged the house and lot to 
Eulogio de Oelis for |2000, "which sum shall be paid as soon as order 
shall be established in the department." The gringo invaders came 
down to Los Angeles shortly after the mortgage was made, and Pico 
fled. Several years after peace was restored Cells began suit 
against Wilson, Packard and Pico to foreclose the mortgage. The 
mortgage was satisfied, but through some strange oversight the case 
was not dismissed. It was a cloud on the title of the property, and 
nearly fifty years after the suit was begun it was brought up in Judge 
York's court and dismissed on the showing that the issues that gave 
it existence had long since been settled. 

It was in the old government house that Lieut. Gillespie and his 
garrison were stationed when the Californians, under Varela and 
Flores, revolted. An attack was made on Gillespie's force on the 
aight of September 22, 1846, by a party of Californians numbering 
about sixty men. Gillespie's riflemen drove them off, killing three 
of the assailants, so he claimed. But the dead were never found. 
Gillespie was compelled to abandon the government house and take 
position on Fort Hill. After a siege of five days he was forced to 
evacuate the city. 

From its proud position as the Capitol of California, this historic 
old adobe descended in the scale of respectability until it ended its 
eventful career as a barroom. Withiix it were enacted some^4>£4he 
bloodiesttragedies of the earl^ fifties. 



Two Notable Pioneers— 6ol. J. J. fluers and Geo. flansen. 



BY H. D. BARROWS. 



[Read December 6, 1897.] 

It is fitting that this society should take some notice of the 
death of eminent citizens, and especially of pioneers, who, on any 
lines, have helped to build our commonwealth. Two such citizens 
and pioneers have passed away, their deaths having occurred within 
two days of each other. 

George Hansen and Col. James J. Ayers, who died in this countj 
last month, lived lives (mostly in California) of great practical use- 
fulness, the one as a civil engineer and land surveyor, and the other 
as a journalist and litterateur, each attaining eminence of the higher 
sort in his chosen profession. 

Having known both these gentlemen many years, and latterly quite 
intimately, I feel it a duty, as well as a pleasure, to add to the rec- 
ords of our Historical Society my humble, sincere tribute to their 
memory. 

I doubt if our citizens generally have any adequate conception 
of their obligations to Mr. Hansen or to Col. Ayers, or, rather, of the 
extent to which the former impressed his influence on the lines and 
configuration of the lots on which their homes are built, or of the 
farms and orchards which they cultivate, or of the ranchos in which 
their capital is invested, or the extent of the influence which James 
J. Ayers has exerted on the material and moral welfare of this com- 
munity, this State and this Coast, since his coming hither nearly half 
a century ago. 

A bare skeleton outline of the lives of our departed friends may 
be told in few words. 

Mr. Hansen was a native of Fiume, Austria, where he was bom 
in 1824. He came to California via Cape Horn and Peru in 1850, and 
to Los Angeles in 1853, since when his home was here till his deaths 
which occurred November 10, 1897. 

Col. Ayers was born in Glasgow, Scotland, August 27, 1830. His 
parents immigrated to the United States when he was an infant. Hla 



TWO NOTABLE PIONEBRSL 57 

boyhood was spent in New York, where he learned the printenr 
trade and also acquired a knowledge of the French language. After 
spending a year in St. Lonis, he started in February, 1849, for Cali- 
fornia, by way of New Orleans and Honduras, arriving at Ban 
Francisco after a long, perilous journey of appalling hardships, m 
October of that year. After a varied and eventful career in Central 
California, Nevada and the Bandwich Islands, he came to Los An- 
geles in 1872. He died at his home at Azusa in this county, Novem- 
ber 12, 1897. 

A record in detail of the lives of these two notable men would 
fill a book. Nevertheless I will try to condense, in this paper, a 
few facts concerning each of them. 

To those who can rightly interpret them, the records of land 
titles of Los AngeleB county perhaps best tell the story of Mr. Han- 
sen's long and useful life. He probably made more land surveys in 
this and adjoining counties than any other person. His maps are 
field notes, of early surveys especially, are extensive and extremely 
valuable. And if, from any calamity, by fire or other cause, the 
county records should be lost or destroyed, they could be reproduced, 
more nearly complete, from the private papers and maps which he 
left at his death containing records of his surveys, than from any 
other source. 

Not only was Mr. Hansen a man of great intellectual ability and 
an accomplished civil engineer, but he was very methodical in his 
habits and possessed a sound judgment. 

When he first came to Los Angeles from the mines, in 1853, 
mostly without means, he told me that he went to John Temple, 
then one of the moneyed men here, and, though a stranger and a 
newcomer, asked for the loan of flOO with which to purchase sur- 
veying tools. Mr Temple, who was a shrewd business man, and 
himself a large land owner, and knowing that there was plenty of 
work to do here for a competent surveyor, asked him if that was his 
profession, etc., and then readily loaned him the money on his sim- 
ple note, without security, at 2 per cent, a month, a very moderate 
rate for that period. 

After sending to Ban Francisco for his needed surveyor's outfit 
he went to work, and for years his professional (services were 
almost constantly in demand. 

Mr. Hansen laid out Anaheim, the pioneer colony, in 1857, and 
planted and superintended the cultivaticm of the fifty twenty-acre 



58 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 

vineyards and orchards of the owners, of whom he was one. I re- 
member that I supplied him some 80 M grape cuttings, in the win- 
ter of '58-9, which I obtained from the vineyards of Mr. William 
Wolfskin, and that I rode in a bnggy with John Frohling in the 
spring of '59, from Los Angeles to the new colony, by way of Work- 
man's and Rowland's, and that we staid one night as the guests of 
Mr. Hansen. This was the commencement of my intimate acquain- 
tance with him, which subsisted thereafter till his death. Mr. Han- 
sen practically had charge, under Maj. Henry Hancock, of the sec- 
ond official survey of this city known as ^*Hancock's survey." He 
surveyed many of the large ranchos of this, and I believe, San Ber- 
nardino counties. 

He once argued with me, half humorously and half in earnest, in 
favor of the proposition that surveyors were more useful to society 
than preachers, as promoters of peace especially, because they were 
able often in defining boundary lines between conflicting claimants, 
to harmonize opposing views or illy-defined titles like those derived 
from Spanish and Mexican grants, and thereby avert or minimize lit- 
igation between neighbors. 

After the establishment of ^'Drum Barracks" at Wilmington m 
this county during the civil war, it became necessary, in bringing wa- 
ter from the San Gabriel River, to build a flume several miles 
long to convey the water across the extensive depressloa 
between the Dominguez homestead range of hills and 
Wilmington, and Mr. Hansen was employed to superintend the con- 
struction of the work. After surveying the ground over which the 
flume was to run, he laid out in his office the work of construction. 
An immense quantity of lumber was ordered, and a very lar^e force 
of men, including many soldiers from the barracks, were put to^woijc 
on the lumber to get it ready to set up; but none of it was actually 
set up till a considerable portion of it was prepared to go into the 
flume, and as the work progressed Col. Curtiss, G^n. Banning and 
others became anxious lest the vast piles of timber already fltted to 
fo together should fail to flt the places assigned them, or the un- 
equal and irregular depression of the land over which the big flume 
must necessarily pass, the depression in some places being twenty 
feet or more. And they therefore begged Mr. Hansen to have the 
workmen stop getting out any more lumber till it was known 
whether that already prepared would actually fit together. And 
80 finally he consented to this to please them; and as everything 



TWO NOTABLE PIONEERS. 59 

went together, as he knew it would, like a well-devised piece of mech- 
anism, their faith thereafter in the skill and jndgment of Mr. Han- 
sen as an engineer and mathematician was nnbonnded. At one time 
Mr. Hansen and myself were appointed appraisers of an estate, in 
which a person (a mother) bad only a life interest, and as, according 
to standard life insurance tables she had probabilities of thirty odd 
years of life, it became necessary for ns to compute what the value 
of the estate would amount to at, say, 3 per cent, interest, com- 
pounded annually — a somewhat formidable problem according to 
ordinary arithmetical methods. Mr. Hansen suggested that it be 
solved by logarithms — which I had not thought of — and straightway 
he figured out the proper solution almost instantly. 

The Canal and Reservoir Company of this city was, I believe, 
originated and its extensive works were engineered by Mr. Hansen, 
who also donated to the company the land needed for its ditches, 
reservoirs, etc. It was he, who, when the city lands were surveyed, 
insisted, against much opposition at the time, on reserving the 400 
or 500 acres north of the city now constituting our magnificent Ely- 
tian Park, for public uses. One object which he especially had in 
view was that all citizens, rich and poor alike, could freely go there 
and take out stone for building or other purposes, for at that perloa, 
before the advent of railroads, building stone within reach of the 
city was scarce. 

In the early '80's, Mr Hansen, Leonardo Cota and the writer 
served as commissioners to partition the big San Pedro or Manuel 
Dominguez Bancho of 25,000 acres, which included Rattlesnake or 
Terminal Island, with its frontage on San Pedro Harbor, and also 
the site of the present town of Redondo with its deep-sea waterfront. 
As the rancho extended from the San Gabriel River to the ''salt 
works" (Redondo) a distance of about eleven miles, we had an op- 
portunity, in riding nights and mornings to and from the distant 
portions of the rancho, to discuss almost every conceivable subject 
that could interest the human mind. And a free discussion of phil- 
osophy, morals, sociology, economics, final causes, etc., with a pro- 
found philosopher and thinker like Gteorge Hansen, could not but 
prove edifying to any one who cared at all to get at the true tneory 
of tilings. 

Mr. Hansen was an onmiverous reader in three languages, Ger- 
man, English and French. He had also an intimate acquaintance 
with the Spanish language. He was for years a regular subscriber 



6o HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

and reader of the four leading English reviews, the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, the Contemporary, the Fortnightly and the Westminster Be 
Wews, and also the Popular Science Monthly. He was thoroughly 
familiar with the standard writers of his own language, both philos- 
ophers and poets, whose wise or striking sayings he used freely to 
quote and translate. 

He was a sincere admirer of Darwin and Herbert Bpencer and 
Huxley, and naturally, with them he believed in the general theory 
of evolution. 

Mr. Hansen had a keen sense of humor though naturally a very 
serious man. One or two examples will suffice to illustrate this 
point. Years ago, when the "Fenians" attracted much attention, I 
met him one day and rallied him about some movement his "country- 
men, the Fenians," had just been making, etc. The idea of classing 
him, a German of the Oermans as an Irishman and a Fenian, struck 
him as so comical that whenever we met after that, for a long time, 
he could not refrain from referring to his "brethren" or his "coun- 
trymen" or to the "Fenian brotherhood" and their somewhat ec- 
centric activities. 

He pretended to have discovered an original and effective mode 
of "standing off" importunate creditors. He would relate with much 
seriousness how a man came to him to collect an account and how 
he treated him with great civility, and asked him to be seated, when 
he commenced reading to him some of his poetry. The man stood 
this for a while though plainly showing uneasiness, till finally he 
got up and said he must be going as he had to meet an engagement, 
to which Hansen effusively replied that he wanted him to listen to 
some very fine passages, asking him to take a cigar and not to be in 
a hurry. Then Hansen dosed him with more poetry — wooden poetry, 
like much of that which is dosed out to a suffering public in the 
newspapers and magazines — ^till at last the man started up in sheer 
desperation and rushed out of the office, and Hansen said he never 
saw him afterward. Of course the above was merely an imaginary 
episode; he probably never wrote a line of poetry in his life. 

Mr. Hansen was of a quiet and retiring disposition, being natur- 
ally averse to anything like publicity; but he lived a very rich intel- 
lectual life and he was held in the highest esteem by his intimate 
friends. He was a man of progressive and far-reaching ideas, and 
was ever ready to help any one to build up the city; and, as one of 
the largest land owners of the city, he did not sell his lots in the 



TWO NOTABLE PIONEERS 6x 

early times for gain, bat rather almost gave them away to secure 
their settlement and improvement, and at the same time to aid 
worthy poor men. He donated both land and water to the woolen 
mill to encourage the building up of a useful local industry. 

Leaving no relatives in this country, Mr. Hansen willed his 
property to Alfred Solano, his proteg^, whom he had brought up 
from boyhood and educated as civil engineer. In accordance with 
his own request his body was incinerated. 

I rememeber very well attending a meeting of citizens I think m 
^72 or '73 held to consider the question of purchasing the Evenmg 
Express of George Tiffany, who, it was understood, wished to sell 
his interest, the desire of our people being to prevent the paper from 
falling under the control of the railroad company, whose iron grip 
they had even then begun to feel. A joint stock company was formed^ 
the purchase was made and the paper was placed under the editorial 
control of Messrs. Ayers and Lynch, who later bought out the otner 
stockholders and became sole owners, and who made the Express a 
success and a powerful exponent of public opinion. Afterwards 
Mr. Lynch bought the Herald, Col. Ayers thereafter becoming sole 
manager of the Express. 

As I look back and review the yeoman's service wnicn Col. 
Ayers rendered to this community during those years, I ask myself 
the question — what was the main secret of his influence? to which 
I answer, that he had strong convictions and he was always loyal 
to those convictions. 

In some incidental correspondence on other matters that I had 
with him last summer, I tried to get him to engage in correspond- 
ence in which I hoped to draw him out on many questions of general 
interest. To which, in reply, he wrote last July: "You have no 
idea how I have regretted that my health has been such that I have 
not been enabled to enter upon and keep up such a correspondence 
as you proposed. It would have been so mutually satisfying and 
beneficial, and we might have left some useful hints behind us." 

Two or three years ago I urged Col. Ayers to write out his re- 
membrances of events and of persons in California since the days of 
^49 and that, ifwritten with any degree of fullness, such an autobiog- 
raphy, because of the active and prominent part he him- 
self had taken in public affairs, would be in reality a 
history of California. I am glad to know that he , 
acted on my suggestion. His manuscript autobioera\)£^ 



62 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

ical history of several hundred pages, which he i)ermitte<l me 
to read before his death, is a graphic and exceedingly interesting 
work, which I hope may soon be published. It is really a valuable 
contribution to California history. In the mean time, those who de- 
sire to learn more of Col. Ayers' varied career, are referred to the 
Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, published in 1889, which 
contains a sketch of his life, dictated to the writer hereof by himself, 
and also to the local press which, on the occasion of his death, gave 
appreciative and interesting accounts of his life and character. The 
Herald eulogy by Mr. Sxmlding, who, as a newspaper man, knew Coi. 
Ayers intimately, was most admirable and truthful. 

I have only pleasant memories of Col. Ayers — such memories 
as one would naturally retain in associating with a thoroughly cul- 
tured man of the world like him, who was '^honest to the core,*' 
whose heart was as gentle as that of a woman. 

Col. Ayers was a fine Shakespearian scholar. He spoke French 
and Spanish fluently. But one of the highest compliments I can 
pay to his memory is to express my belief that in all his journalistic 
career, his influence was ever cast on the side of the people and in 
favor of human rights and of human freedom. 

At the centennial celebration of our national independence by 
the people of Los Anjjeles July 4, 1876, Col. Ayers read a poem from 
which I quote the following lines: 



^^E'en as where wrecks on sunken rooks are cast. 
Show watchful pilots courses safe to trace, 

So we, by holding still in view the past, 
By public good may public ill replace. 

"One hundred years, summed in a nation's life. 
Form but the childhood term — ^the tender age — 

When, with disease and heedless error rife, 
The coming man gropes thro' his infant stage. 

"Passed are all these; in manhood's stalwart pride 

A^'e sally forth with destiny to cope. 
And, daring adverse winds and threatening tide. 

Launch on the world a new career of hope. 



TWO NOTABLE PIONEERS. 63 

•*That hope is Freedom's, here and everywhere 

On this broad earth, where man, downtrod. 
Sends up to heaven a supplicating prayer 

To shield him from the tyrant's ruthless rod! 

'*To us, entrusted by Almighty hand, 

The ark of freedom, which our fathers bore 
In safety from the dread oppressor's land. 
And planted on Columbia's western shore; — 

"To us is given the charge to guard it well; 

And if from public vice the danger come. 
Insidious though it be, and, growing, swell 

With giant power as erst in olden Rome, 

'*Yet we will grapple with the monster's might — 
Place Virtue on our shields, and with the spear 

Of Truth, firm set in place, bend to the fight. 
And crush it under hoof, 'mid high career. 

'^Freedom is ours in trust — oh, priceless trust! 

To guard with hearts that beat the Godward side — 
With souls that feel the impulse of the just. 

And rising, swell to Honor's manly pride! 

"In every votary's breast she rears a shrine, 
Where inward glows her quenchless vestal flame — 

Enthroned she dwells in every patriot mind. 
And blazons forth from fields of deathless fame. 

"Out from thy pregnant womb, O, Time! bring forth 

Men equal to our country's future needs. 
With faces skyward, hearts of purest worth. 

And iron nerves strung to the bravest deeds. 

"With these, we'll bid defiance to the woes 
That Fate may launch against our hallowed land — 

Unyielding breasts will brave our open foes, 
And Honor's foot on prostrate Baseness stand." 



ISLA DB LOS nUERTOS. 



BY MRS. M. BXniTON WILLIAMSON. 



[Written for Orerland Monthlj.] 

As an illnstration of nature's progress in removing one of her 
own landmarksy a little island in San Pedro Bay, known as Dead 
Man's Island, or more properly Isla de los Muertos, exhibits a fine ex- 
ample. Within a few years the whole facies of this island has been 
changed by the erosive power of waves and tides, as well as by the 
winter rains. The base of Dead Man's Island, daily lashed by the 
rushing waves, shows the effect of wav^s and tides, in their action on 
Pliocene rook; and that of the upper stratum, or summit, tells the 
story of the destructive power of rain on the more recent or quater- 
nary formation. In the transactions of the I. L. Chap, of the A. A-, 
the Hon. Delos Arnold says of Dead Man's Island : ^'To one who has 
spent many pleasant and profitable hours in this lonely spot, it cannot 
but cause an abiding sorrow to witness the devastation that is con- 
stantly and rapidly going on by the relentless waves. Within the reo- 
ollection of persons now living the island has diminished one-half or 
more, and there are now living those who will see the tides sweeping 
over the spot where the receding island now stands, unless some 
steps are taken to protect it." 

A few- years ago the ocean side on the west of the island could 
only be reached either by way of the inner harbor or by climbing" to 
the top of the island then descending down the precipitous trail, but 
now one can walk all around it without obstruction. This has be^i 
made possible by an arch cut through the solid rock. A hole, that 
appeared to be an entrance to a small cave in the rock, has been rap- 
idly enlarged by the waves and breakers which beat with prodigious 
force against the base of the island until an arch has been farmed 
in the solid rock. When the tide is hijjh the breakers sweek through 
the arch, but when the tide is low one can easily pass through it 
around the island. 

Dead Man's Island or '^Isla de los Muertos," is so small it appears 
only like a pile of sandy soil in the ocean when viewed f rom tbe 
mainland, but many islands of far greater dimensions are of less valae 



I8LA DE LOS MUERT08. 65 

to history or to science. Historically it is identified with the retak- 
ing of the capital of California^ at that time the Pueblo de 
Los Angeles, and soi^itifioally it has a national reputation on ac- 
count of its fossil shells. 

At one time it was possible to wade in the low water from the 
town of Ban Pedro to the island, but the building of an inner harbor 
between these two places has brought on a stretch of water thaf 'Can 
only be spanned by a skiff or boat. A breakwater, a mile and one 
quarter long, connects Dead Man's Island on the east with a long 
sandy beach, formerly known as '^Rattlesnake Island," though now 
called Terminal Island. 

On a clear day the view from the top of Dead Man's Island is 
fine. One can see, on the west, the little watering place, Santa Cat- 
alina, with its narrow isthmus plainly visible, from twenty-five to 
thirty miles out in the Pacific Ocean. On the mainland^ jutting out 
from the Palos Verdes Hills, Point Firmin, the lighthouse, defines 
itself against the horizon, then stretched along, one after another 
on the high bluffs, the towns of San Pedro, Wilmington, Long Beach 
and Alamitos encircle the bay of San Pedro. 

It is easy to conjecture why the island is given so gruesome a 
cognomen as ''Dead Man's Island," or "Isla de los Muertos,' by the 
Spanish in California, as the name hints at a legend. Mr. Stephen 
C. Foster says that Col. J. J. Warner, who came to this cost in 1831, 
told him the island got its name from the fact that a sailor who died 
on a vessel trading on the coast was buried on the island, this was 
before Col. Warner came, as it more that name when he arrived. 

Some years after, when B. H. Dana, Jr., was a sailor before the 
mast in the American merchant service, he sailed on the California 
coast, and he has given us a graphic picture of the island. He was 
in San Pedro on Sunday and his brig, the Pilgrim, "lay in the of- 
flng," as far out as he could see, he says, "the only other thing which 
broke the surface of the great bay was a small, desolate-looking isl- 
and, steep and conical, of a clayey soil and without the sign of veg- 
etable life upon it, yet which had a peculiar and melancholy interest 
to me, for on the top of it were buried the remains of an Englishman, 
the commander of a small merchant brig, who died while lying in 
this port. It was always a solemn and interesting spot to me. There 
it stood, desolate and in the midst of desolation ; and there were the 
remains of one who died and was buried alone and friendless. Had 
it been a common burying place it would have been nothing. The 



66 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CAUFORNIA. 

fdngle body corresponded well with the solitary character of every- 
thing around." This was in 1835, a strong contrast to the town- 
stndded bay of today! '^It was the only thing in California from 
which I could ever extract anything like poetry. Then, too, the man 
died far from home, without a friend near him, by poison, it was sus- 
pected, and no one to inquire into it, and without proper funeral rites, 
the mate, as I was told, glad to have him out of the way and into the 
ground without a word of prayer." 

Although the sea gulls winged their flight for many years over 
the solitary and desolate grave of the Englishman, other victims, 
and this time of war, were carried up the hill and lowered into graves 
dug on its summit. In October, 1846, six American marines, who 
were killed or died of wounds in the fight at Dominguez ranch, were 
buried on this island, emphasizing it still more as the Isle of the Dead. 
As there is considerable variation in authorities in the given num- 
ber of men killed in this fight, being variously estimated from '^four*' 
to "twelve" or "thirteen," as w^ll as the number of graves on the 
island, I will give some notes copied from the log book of the IT. 8. B. 
Savannah for October, 1846. I am indebted to the Secretary of the 
Navy for this data: "In reply I have to inform you that the Chief of 
the Bureau of Navigation, to whom your letter was referred for an 
examination of the loig book of the U. S. S. Savannah, reports as fol- 
lows: 

" The log book of the U. S. S. Savannah for 1846 shows that 
the vessel was at Monterey, Cal., during August, 1846. 

" ^First arrived in the Bay of San Pedro October 7, on which date 
an expedition was landed for the purpose of retaking the town of 
Pueblo de los Angeles,' (in the earlier official papers of the United 
States Los Angeles was written Los Angelos,) 'capital of California.' 
On landing William Smith (1. C. B.) was killed. (This was before the 
battle) by the accidental dlsobarge of u pistol.' 

"The log for October 9 states that *at 2 the Angelos expedition 
arrived at the landing, having been unable to effect their object ow- 
ing to* the very superior force of the enemy.'. . . 

" *The following dead and wounded were brought on board, viz: 
Michael Hoy (sea;) David Johnson (O. S.;> both dead; Charles Somers 
(musician,) mortally wounded. William Berry (sea,) severely 
wounded. . . . Charles Somers, who was mortally wounded in 
the action of yesterday, departed thsi life. At 9 :30 sent the body of 
William Smith, who was accidentally killed, and the bodies of 



18LA DE LOS MUERT08. 67 

Michael Hoy, James (?) Johnaan and Charles Somers, who were killed 
in the action of yesterday, on an island for interment.' 

"October 11 the log stales that 'William B. Berry departed this 
life from wounds received in the action of the 8th. Buried body of 
W. H. Berry on Dead Man's Island.' 

"On October 22 the log shows that 'Henry Lewis (marine) de- 
parted this life. . . . Buried on Dead Man's Island the remains of 
Henry 8. Lewis (marine.)' 

"No further deaths were reported up to November 4, 1846, wheji the 
Savannah left the Bay of San Pedro.' Nothing has been found on 
the records of the department showing the exact size of this island 
at the time to which you refer." These extracts from the log book 
settle the question of the number killed in the fight and buried on 
the island during the month of October, 1846. 

Of the fight at Dominguez Ranch, I am indebted for data to Mr. 
Stephen Foster, who came to California in 1847. In a letter re- 
ceived from him he says of the fight : "In August, 1846, Commodore 
Stockton took possession of Los Angeles and left a small garrison 
here. The Califomians rose and drove the Americans out, and they 
went aboard a vessel at anchor at San Pedro. Captain Mervlne came 
from the Bay of San Francisco with the frigate Savannah and started 
with about two hundred and fifty men afoot for Los Angeles 
He had no artillery, and the Califomians, all mounted, with a small 
cannon, met him on Dominguez ranch, about where Compton now 
stands^ and there was a running fight for some three milt^s. The can- 
non was quartered in the road and the Califomians would make a 
feint to charge and Mervine would mass his men together to resist 
cavalry, when the canon would be discharged, and the lanciers would 
wheel about. This was repeated four or five times. Some eight or 
ten Americans were killed or wounded, the exact number I have 
never heard, but the dead and wounded were loaded on a cart taken 
from the Dominguez ranch and sailors pulled the cart to the beach 
and the dead were buried on the island." 

In the history of California by Hubert H. Bancroft, he says of 
the cannon in the fight: ''When Mervine came near, the gun was 
fired by Ignacio Aguilar, and was immediately dragged away by 
riatas atached to the horsemen's saddles, to be reloaded at a safe 
distance. . This operation was repeated some half a dozen times in 
less than an hour. The first discharge did no harm, since the home- 
made powder was used, but at last the gun was properly loaded and 



r ^ CAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

the solid column affording an excellent target, each shot was effect- 
ive. Six were killed and as many were wounded, if indeed the loss 
of Americana was not greater." As has been stated the official iSo- 
ord settles the question of the number who died and were buried. 
In his '^Reminiscences of a Banger," Major Horace Bell sajs of 
the gun used in the fight at Domiiyguez ranch) that it was taken to 
Dead Man's Island on July 4, 1853, to fire off a national salute. 

'^Captain Bepulyeda mustered and embarked his command on a 
large boat and proceeded up Wilmington Bay, where he embarked 
his artillery and sailed for Dead Man's Island, where, after infinite 
labor, he succeeded in mounting his battery on the highest point of 
the island, and all being ready we let loose such a thund^ as was 
never exceeded by one gun. It seemed that we would wake the seven 
sleeping heroes who so quietly reposed on the little barren rock. 
Don Juan (Sepulveda) said the firing would serve a triple purpose, it 
would dissipate the last vestage of unfriendly feeling that may have 
lingered in the bosoms of the sons of/ the country toward the United 
States; that it would serve to express our gratitude to the great 
founders of modern liberty, and it would be an appropriate salute to 
the seven (six) brave marines who lost their lives in their country's 
service." . . . 

"Don Juan proceeded to tell us how the seven" (there were seven 
graves, but not alf of them killed at the fight at Dominguez Banch,) 
"sailors came to be killed. Their wooden head-boards stood in line 
in front of us." After relating some incidents of the fight, Don 
Juan Sepulveda said: "The old gun was subsequently buried near 
my house, and after a nap of six years, here it is, and here am I, and 
others who dragged it away at the time; and here we are, all of us, 
the old gun, the old enemies, now friends, and here is brave Higuera« 
firing a salute of honor over our former foes, who fell in battle. 
Viva los Estados Unidos ! Viva Mexico Somos Amigos.' " Another 
link in the history of this little island that connects it with the his- 
tory of California. 

A tangled growth of weeds on the summit of Dead Man's Islajid 
has made it impossible for me to distinguish more than five graves 
on the island, one, sunken two or three feet down, is, I presume, that 
of the unknown Englishman. One grave on the northwestern corner 
still has a number of chalk-white fossil shells mixed with yellow soil 
thrown up on either side of it. Fragments of fossil shells are strewn 
about the decaying foot and head-boards that mark other graves. 



18LA DE LOS MUERT03. 69 

When I WEB on the island last spring, a companion 'Spaced it" 
and fifty by one hundred feet proved to be its area. A few years ago 
a bed of white fossil shells, quaternary,^ was visible around its sum- 
niit, but these have been washed down and lodged in the rock-pools 
at the base of the island. Nearly three hundred species and varieties 
of fossil shells have been collected on this island. The base of the 
island is a much older formation than on its loose, sandy summit. 
Here, near the base, we find fossil shells of the Pliocene^ and possibly 
Miocene strata of rocks. To be able to pick up fossil shells while col- 
lecting living ones, is one of the unique experiences a collector can 
report from the island. And a few years ago conchologists could 
out fossil shells from the soft, clayey soil at the bottom of a tide 
pool! The water would become roiled in tiny clouds as the knife 
dislodged the soil that formed a clayey matrix around the shell. A 
number of fine Fusus barbarensis and Fusus corpulentus were thus 
found embeded in rocks that formed the base of rock-pools, the home 
of numerous living mollusks. Dead Man's Island has supplied con- 
chologists with many fossil mollusks now known only to inhabit, in 
any number, thcjf waters of our northern coast;! among these are 
Chrysodomus tabulatus and Tritonium oregonensis, the last-named 
being more especially a Puget Sound and Vancouver Island moUusK. 

Identified with California in its! history and its science, with all 

its inhabitants buried on the summit that rises a solitary pile above 

the ocean breakers, this little vanishing island,' should be considered 

as something more than a ^^desolate-looking island" on the Paotfia 

Ckmst. 



FODia>ERING OF THE STEAMSHIP CEimtAL AMERICA. 



BY H. D. BARROWS. 



[Read December 6, 1896.] 

The loss off Gape Hatteras of the steamer ^^Central America^'' 
with some 500 passengerSy mostly from the Paoiflc Coast, Batnrdigr 
night, November 12, 1857, was a disaster that caused a profound sen- 
sation at the time throughout the country, but especially in Califor- 
nia, because so many of the passengers on board that ill-fated sliip 
were Galifomians. The writer of these lines came very near being 
one of the number, as he had intended to have left San Francisco (m 
the steamer that would have connected with the ^^Central America^'' 
but at the last moment he decided to take the next steamer, whidi 
he did, passing over the same route two weeks later. We first heard 
of the loss at Havana, off the mouth of the harbor where our steamer 
called to leave passengers destined for New Orleans, in case the con- 
nectiiyg steamer had not left. We did not enter the harbor of Ha- 
vana because of the existence there of yellow fever. The captain of 
the port came out and hailed us and informed our captain, who did 
not understand Spanish, in broken English, that the New Orleans 
steamer had left, and then immediately added in Spanish: ''The 'O^i* 
tral America' has been lost with 500 passengers," which sad news 
was corroborated at Key West where we arrived next morning. 

On my return from the East, in the following December, I made 
the acquaintance of a fellow-passenger on the steamer, who was on 
the "Central America" at the time she foundered, who was returning 
from his eastern trip to his home in Oregon. 

In looking over my old papers lately, I came across the following 
account of his experiences and impressions of that terrible sea 
tragedy, as I took it down from his lips. My memorandum is dated 
and reads as follows: 

Steamer "John L. Stephens,* 
Off Lower California, Dec. 26, 185V. 

I have made the acquaintance of a gentleman on board i^ho was 
on the ill-fated "Central America" at the time of her wreck. He was 
12 hours in the water after she went down, but was finally picked 
up by the Norwegian barque "Ellen," and is now on his way to Ore- 



FOUNDBRING OF STEAMSHIP CENTRAL AMERICA. 71 

gon where he resides. His name is John D. Dement of Ore||on City. 

The experiences of an eye-witness of that awful calamity cauii^ 
but prove interesting. The public has a right to know all thatjoan 
be kno¥m of the circumstances attending the disaster, so 
far as they indicate the causes that led to it. 

Mr. Dement is a muscular, well-built man, rather above the av- 
erage stature, with strong nerves, and apparently he is capable of 
retaining his presence of mind in emergencies — ^to which qualities he 
has been indebted under Providence for the preservation of his life 
on several occasions. 

He was on the ''Texas," a year ago, when she put into Norfolk in 
distress; and also on this same ''John L. Stephens" last year, off the 
Oulf of TehuantepeCy in a heavy gale, when, in both cases, he thinks, 
the storm was fully as severe as that in which the "Central Amer- 
ica" was lost. The "Stephens," a year ago this very upward tnp, 
with our present Captain Pearson in command, was disabled by the 
breaking of the frame work which supported her engine, so that 
water rushed in at every revolution of her shaft. The passengers 
were ordered below, and Capt. Pearson remained above almost alone, 
being obliged to walk the deck in his stocking feet; the bulwarks 
were washed away, and a portion of one of her wheel houses was 
broken in; the cattle on board were washed overboard and lost, and 
the ship was kept to the wind with only enough steam on to keep her 
from lifting; she Anally rode it out, but, of course, made no head- 
way till the storm abated. If her shaft had broken, or her flres had 
been put out, she would still have had the resource left of sail to 
have scud before the wind; otherwise she must have laid in the 
trough of the sea and gone to the bottom — as did the "Central 
America." 

Mr. Dement says that the foremast of the latter was cut away 
in the early part of the storm, as they said to him, "to keep her from 
blowing over on her side so much." That, in his opinion, was one 
fatal mistake among many others. He thinks that even the "Oeorge 
Law" need not have been lost, as it was, from similar causes, in this 
same storm. He believes the fault in the case of the "Central 
America" did not lie entirely nor principally with Captain Hemdon, 
nor with his engineers — they were the faithful but straitened em- 
ploy^ of a heartless, greedy, money-making company. Wh^i the 
steamer, on the same trip, was coaling at Havana, it came out in 
the presence of Mr. Dement and others that Captain Hemdon co^l<l 



72 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

not do what he would. When called on for more hands to assist^ he 
was obliged to confess that he could not furnish them; that, in tact, 
he hardly had half a orew. It also came out during their distress, 
before the steamer went down, when some carpentering was needeo, 
that there was no carpenter among the crew, nor even a set of tools 
worth the name! For one of the passengers, a western man, came 
forward, after bailing had been kept up for a long time, and said 
that he was a ship carpenter, and offered to make a pump, and it 
was with the greatest difficulty that tools and materials suffidenc 
could be found to make one — a wooden one — but in which he finally 
succeeded. And the pump did good service, Mr. Dement said, as 
long as it lasted or till it wore out. 

He says he saw but three axes, but other persons were using 
these. He was unable to get one to cut away some part of the uppt^ 
works with which to construct a raft. He tried to wrench off some 
of the doors, but could not, so he waited, hoping to get one of tfie 
axes, but without success, when he finally gave it up. Afterwards 
he spoke to the mate about it, who told him that there had been 
more axes on board, but in using them to cut away the masts they 
had been spoilt and some had been dropped down in the hold or lost 
overboard. 

Mr. Dement says that when water was first discovered in the 
hold by passengers, it was several feet deep, and trunks were float- 
ing about in every direction; the steamer was leaking around tJus 
lower portholes or "dead lights," which might have been tight at 
first, but as they were badly rust-eaten, or surrounded by verdigris 
between them and the wood, they had often been covered with paint» 
etc., they early beii^an to let in T^ater. Afterwards, on Baturuaj^ 
when timbers and settees began to fioat about in the lower cabin, 
many of these dead-lights were knocked out altogether, and Mr. !>©. 
ment saw large streams of water pouring in through the apertures. 
He is sure that the "donkey pump" was in working order, but the 
fires being out, of course it was useless, for the coal was wet, and, 
besides, it was dangerous to go down into the coal holds on account 
of fioatiug timbers and heat, etc., and therefore they did not suc- 
ceed in getting up steam in the donkey engine to do any good. Every- 
thing seemed to have been done when it was too late. The pumps 
fore and aft, he says, were not in order. 

The usual precautions or provision for a wreck were made by 
the company in the most niggardly and careless manner, if, indeed. 



FOUNDERING OF STEAMSHIP CENTRAL AMERICA. 73 

they can be said to have provided at all for any such emergency. 

And then, the management on board seems to have been bad, 
flrsty in permitting the water to fill the lower hold before it was 
known that the ship leaked dangerously, and then in not starting 
the donkey pump at once, and when it was found to be impossible 
to keep the water from putting out the fires (in which caife she must 
inevitably fall into the trough of the sea,) to cut away her foremast. 
For she thus would have no means of keeping before the wind, nor of 
heading to it; no wonder that, in this helpless condition, she filled 
and sank. 

Of Captain Herndon, Mr. Dement thinks that he was wholly 
unequal to such a terrible situation; that he was a good and brave 
man and had all the amiable qualities, and that he acted according 
to his best judgment, but that he was handicapped by the criminal, 
heartless stinginess of his company, the steamship owners.. The 
passengers appeared to be doing each what he thought best. Bailing 
companies were formed; some busied themselves in trying to con- 
struct rafts; others, completely unmanned, went to their staterooms 
and shut themselves in. Mr. Dement saw but one attempt made 
under the direction of the officers of the ship, to construct a raft, 
though others may have been made. 

On Friday (September 11,) about noon, a lunch was served, when 
the captain came down into the cabin and called on the waiters to 
come and help carry coal. Passengers soon after commenced bailing 
with buckets by passing them up from one to another. There was a 
scarcity of buckets; some had no handles and some soon broke; Dar- 
rels were afterwards rigged to haul up with teacles, etc. Mr. Dement 
says he bailed thus Friday afternoon and all night and till Saturday 
afternoon about 4 o'clock, without a morsel to eat, when he con- 
cluded, as it was doing no good, to quit; that the ship must founder 
very soon, as the water inside was filling her cabins, and outside was 
nearly up to her guards; that it was time to take care of himself, 
and although he despaired of his life, he determined to do all that 
could be done to save it, for there was hope so long aa there was life. 

He went to his trunk, took out some papers of value and some 
money, and with is overcoat and life-preserver, went on deck and 
sat down on a trunk in one of the upper state rooms, and leaned 
back to get a little rest ; he slept, he thinks, perhaps two hours, when 
he awoke, the water had covered the spar-deck and the ship rolled 
helplessly in the trough of the sea. He awakened a man who was 



74 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

asleep in the berth, and told him that the ship was sinking. He 
turned his feet oat of the berth and said: "Oh, I guess nof 

Mr. Dement stepped outside the stateroom, and the water ygwz 
ankle high. He went to the wheel house and up on to the hurrimtne 
deck, to be as high as possible. It was then about 8 o'clock in tne 
evening. A wave oame from the leeward side and ran partly over 
the deck, washing him between the escape pipe and the smoke stack, 
and then receded, when another heavy wave from the windward sid* 
washed over her, throwing a man against him, which forced him 
out from between the 'scape pipe and smoke stack, at which she He- 
gan to settle bodily, her stem going under first, until she was ei;r 
tirely submerged, when she sank — as Lucifer fell, "To rise no moreP' 

Everything near her was drawn down in her mighty wake. Mr. 
Dement felt her under his feet no more, but was drawn down a 
great distance — he knows not how far; but he did not lose his con- 
sciousness; he was aware when he ceased going down — ^he held his 
breath as long as he could. His life-preserver brought him up with 
tremendous velocity, but before he came to the surface he lost his 
breath and began to strangle. But as he reached the upper air and 
cleared his throat and nostrils of salt water, he saw a short plank 
near him which he got onto. He soon saw a longer one and swam 
to it and secured it. He was all this time surrounded by human 
beings shrieking for help, and struggling in sheer desperation with 
the surging waves and eddies amid the darkness for their lives, and 
clinging frantically to each other and going down in utter despair 
tnd exhaustion, while those who kept above water were gradually 
drifted from the scene of that dreadful maelstrom and from each 
other, to perish one by one, beneath the overwhelming waves. 

Mr. Dement floated near what appeared to be one of the wheel 
houses, with the bowing or semi-circular side up. He swam to it 
and climbed on it and was thus better able to keep at least his head 
out of water. On this, he and a man named Brown of Sacramiento 
remained all that Saturday night and until they were picked up. De- 
ment says he had to keep most of the time partly in the water — ^for 
the wind was colder than the water — to keep him from getting 
chilled through. He had left his overcoat on the steamer, but Brown 
had on his overcoat and stood the cold pretty well and kept on top 
of the raft all the time. Each occupied a corner, and as they had a 
great tendency to sleep, they took turns in keeping each other awake 



FOUNDBRINQ OF STEAMSHIP CENTRAL AMERICA. 75 

through the night. The wayee washed oyer the raft almost con- 
stantly. They heard people halloing abont them or in the distance 
most of the time till daylight. 

Sunday morning they saw a sail — ^the Norwegian bark '^EUen/' 
making towards them, but it passed without seeing them. They tried 
to signal with a white handkerchief, but it was wet and of the color of 
the sea foam; they halloed themselyes hoarse, but were not heard. 
She passed them twice, but finally by the aid of half a lif e-preseryer, 
they had picked up, they were seen — ^it was their last chance! The 
barque made down towards them, and, after seyeral attempts, got a 
line to them and hauled them onto her decks, and they were safe! 



PIONEER SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS OF LOS ANGELES. 



BY J. M. GUINN. 



[Read October 4, 1897.] 

The annual reports of the saccessive Boards of Education of Los 
Angeles city for the past twelve years have carried forward in each 
yearly issae a list of the ^'persons who have been Superintendents 
of the Los Aneeles city schools." These lists uniformly give Dr. W. 
T. Lucky, appointed in 1873, as the first Superintendent There is 
no statement in any published report that our schools had a supervis- 
ing officer before Dr. Lucky. , 

I recently made an extended search through the city archives 
for data in regard to the early schools .of our city and their super- 
vision. I find from the archives that the office of Superintendent was 
created twenty years before Dr. Lucky's time, and that fourteen per- 
sons filled the office before 1873, the date of Dr. Lucky's appointment. 

While Los Angeles was under Mexican domination- the Ayunta- 
miento (municipal council,) employed and dismissed teachers and 
gave the schools all the supervision they received. After the Ameri- 
can conquest, the Ayuntamiento wbb continued for a time as the 
governing power of the city; and it exercised its former functions in 
regard to the schools. In July, 1850, the Ayuntamiento was super- 
seded by the Common Council. That body assumed control of the 
schools, but who examined teachers and supervised their work, the 
records do not show. Up to 1853 the schools were supported in part 
by subscription, the Council apportioning a certain amount of the 
municipal fund to each school for the educating of poor children. 

The first ordinance establishing public schools in Los Angeles 
city was passed by the Common Council, July 26, 1853. This ordi- 
nance provided for the appointment by the Council of three Commis- 
sioners of Public Schools, ^^who shall serve slb a City Board of Edu- 
cation. The chairman of said board shall be Superintendent of the 
Public Schools of the city." The board was empowered to examine 
and appoint teachers and to build school houses. At the next meet- 
ing of the Council, J. Lancaster Brent, Lewis Granger and Stephen 
C. Foster were appointed a Board of Education, J. Lancaster Brent, 



PIONEER SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS 77 

by virtue of his Doeition as chairman of the board, becofning Soper- 
intendent. 

In Maj, 1854, Hon. Stephen C. Foster, on assuming the office of 
Mayor, in his inan^^nral address, said : '^First in importance among 
the needs of oar city is education. Oar last census shows more than 
600 children within the corporate limits of age to attend school, three- 
fourths of whom have no means of procuring an education other than 
that afforded by the public schools." He urged the organization of a 
Board of Education to manage the schools, the appointment of a 
Buperitendent, and the building of two school houses conyeniently 
located. 

At the next meeting of the Council an ordinance was presented 
and passed, providing for the appointment by the City Council of 
three school trustees or commissioners, a superintendent and a school 
marshal. 

At a meeting of the City Council, held May 20, 1854, Lewis 

Graiiger, a member of the Council moved that Stephen C. Foster be 

appointed City Superintendent of Common Schools. Manuel Be- 

quena, Francis Melius and W. T. B. Sanford, trustees, and G. W. 

Cole, school marshal. The appointments were confirmed. Thus the 

Mayor of the citv became its first School Superintendent, and three 

of the seven members of the Council constituted its first Board of 

Education. 

The duties of Superintendent, as defined in the ordinance, were 

''to examine all Y^»ersons wishing to teach in the common schools 
within the city, to grant certificates of approbation to such as arp 
well qualified morally and intellectually to teach, and to revoke cer- 
tificates for cause: to visit the schools monthly, making such sugges- 
tions for the improvement and welfare of the schools as he may 
think proper, and to hold a public examination once a year." The 
school board and the superintendent set vigorously to work to secure 
the erection of a school building. Before the close of the school 
year, schoolhouse No. 1, located on the northwest comer of Spring 
and Second streets, on the lot now occupied by the Bryson Block 
and the old City Hall, was completed and occupied. It was a two- 
story brick building, and cost in the neighborhood of |6000. It was 
well out in the suburbs then, the center of population at that time 

being in the neighborhood of the Plaza. To Stephen C. Foster be- 
longs the credit of inaugurating the public school system of our city, 
and to him is due the honor of being its first School Superintendent. 
(J. Lancaster Brent was Superintendent ex-officio, only.) 



78 HJSTORICAl. SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

From 1863to 1866, the Common Goancil appointed the memben of 
the Board of Education and the School Saperintendents. The board 
in early times beinjc a creation of the Coancil it would naturally be 
supposed that the relations between the two bodies would be har- 
monious. On the contrary, we find the relations were sometimes so 
strained that they snapped asunder. 

In the minutes of the Council proceedings for July 7, 1856, ap- 
pears this resolution: ^'Besolyed, That page 7 of the School Com* 
missioners^ record be pasted down on page 8, so that the indecorous 
language written therein by the School Commissioners of 1855 can 
never again be read or seen, said language being couched in such 
terms that the present School Commissioners are not willing to use 
said record." What the proYocation was that called forth such vig- 
orous lan>gua£:e fom the members of the Board of Education does 
not appear. Doubtless the City Fathers deserved a verbal castiga- 
tion, but as they had their innings last, they vindicated their reputa- 
tions by a liberal use of the paste-pot. i 

From 1866 to 1870, the School Boards and the Superintendents 
were elected by popular vote at the city election. In 1870, the office 
was disccmtinued. The city in school affairs at that time was gov- 
erned by three trustees, the same as a county distflct. There was 
no authority in the school law for the election or appointment of a 
Superintendent. In 1872, a special act of the Legislature created a 
City Board of Education, consisting of five members, and gave it 
power to appoint a Superintendent. In 1889, the new charter created 
a board of nine members, one from each ward. The appointment of 
the Superintendent and assistant remains with the board. 

The following is the list of persons who have filled the office of 
Superintendent since its creation, in 1854, down to the present time* 

Stephen C. Foster 1854 to 185B 

Dr. William B. Osbum 1855 to 1856 

Dr. John S. Griffin 1856 to 1857 

J. Lancaster Brent 1857 to 1858 

E. J. C. Kewen 1858 to 1859 

Eev. W. E. Boardman 1859 to 1862 

A. F. Hinchman 1862 to 1863 

Gustavus L. Mix 1863 to 1864 

B. F. Hayes 1864 to 1866 

Rev. Elias Birdsell 18(55 to 1866 

Joseph Huber. Br 1866 to 1867 



PIONEER SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS. 79 

H. D. Barrows 1867 to 1868 

Andrew Olassell 1868 to 1869 

Dr. T. H. Rose 1869 to 1870 

No Superintendent 1870 to 187^ 

Dr. W. T. Lncky 1873 to 1876 

C. H. Kimball 1876 to 1880 

Mrs. C. B. Jones 1880 to 1881 

J. M. Guinn 1881 to 1883 

L. D. Smith 1883 to 1885 

Waiiam M. Preisner 1885 to 1893 

Leroj D. Brown 1893 to 1894 

P. W. Search 1894 to 1895 

J. A. Foabay 1895 to 

The pioneer Superintendents were men of edacation and stand- 
ing in the community. Many of them were prominent in ciyic affairs 
other than educational. 

Stephen C. Poster,* the first Superintendent, still 
living at a ripe old age, is a graduate of Ya^e College. He haa 
filled many city offices, as well as several county and State positions. 
He is the best authority extant on the history of our city and county. 
He has been identified with their growth and progress for more than 
half a century. 

Dr. William B. Osburn, the second City Superintendent, was a man 
of versatile genius and varied attainments. He came to the Coast 
in 1847, as hospital steward of Col. Stevenson's regiment of New 
York volunteers. After the expiration of his term of service, he lo- 
cated in Los Angeles. He had a penchant for pioneering. He 
started the first drug store, opened the first auction house, estab- 
lished the first nursery and introduced the first ornamental trees and 
sbubbery into Los Angeles. He had a genius, too, for office-holding. 
He was collectively Postmaster, School Supirintendent, Coroner and 
City Marshal. Whether it was his familiarity with letters, or his 
experience in a nursery that suggested to the Council his fitness for 
School Superintendent, the records do not show. The doctor was 
the hero of one of the famous rides of history, or rather he would 
be the hero had the ride ever gotten into history. A Mexican outlaw 
attempted to assassinate < Judge Hays. The Sheriff, his deputy and 
Osburn followed the desperado across the river and out to the hills 
beyond Boyle Heights, to where there was an adobe house, the resort 
of outlaws. As the trio approached the house in the darkness they 



8o HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

were greeted with a yollej from the guns o£ the desperadoes inside. 
The doctor, fearing that the next volley might create a vacancy in 
the offices of postmaster, school 8U|>erlutendeiit, coroner and 
marshal, and at the same time deprive the city of a political doss, a 
horticulturist and an' auctioneer, turned his horse's head toward the 
city and fled. The deputy, seeing the doctor depart, followed after, 
and the sheriff, finding his 'orces falling back, d.ished after to rally 
them. 

The doctor, hearing the clatter of hoofs following supposed 
he was pursued by all the desperadoes in the lower country, and the 
deputy, hearing the hoof thuds of the sheriff's horse, thought tney 
were after him, too, and spurred his horse on to overtake the doctor. 
Wilder and more furious became the race. The doctor plunged tht» 
rowels into his steed in a mad effort to distance his pursuers, the 
deputy, with whip and rein, urged his to greater speed and the mesa 
resounded with the clatter of flying hoofs. There was no bridlge 
across the river in those days. The road led down to the ford through 
a narrow cut. The doctor in his wild haste missed the road and 
went over the bank into the sand and water of the river. The 
deputy, like Jill in the famous nursery rhyme, "came tumbling after," 
and the sheriff, unable to «?heck the speed of his racer plunged into 
the mingled mass of man and horse. 

The three worthies extricated themselves from their fallen 
steeds, and faced ecich other in the river bed; and then and there it 
was revealed to each who was the pursuer and who was the pursued. 
They stole quietly back to the city, but the story of the famous ride, 
like "murder will out." 

Dr. John S. Griffin, third in succession to the office of City Su- 
perintendent of Schools, still lives in the city, a hale old man- of 81 
years. He came to the Coast as surgeon on Gen. Kearney's staff in 
1846. He married Miss Louisa Hayes, the first principal of the 
girls' department of the Spring-street school. His successor in office, 
J. Lancaster Brent, was an attorney and a noted politician. He was 
the leader of the Rosewaters in the political faction fights of forty 
years ago. He went South at the breaking out of the Civil War and 
linked his fortunes with the Confederacy. What his subsequent 
fortunes or misfortunes were, deponent saith not. The fifth Super- 
intendent was E. J. C. Kewen, an attorney, noted for his f»l<>«inence. 
He was the first Attorney-General of California. At the time of his 
appointment he had recently returned from filibustering under Wal- 



PIONEER SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS. 8i 

ker in Central America. His military training under the "Gray-eyed 
Man of Destiny" was doubtless deemed by the Council an essential 
requisite of a Superintendent in the days when filibustering waB re- 
garded, as a legitimate outlet for the military ardor of the young 
Angelefios. 

The Rev. W. E. Boardman, a Presbyterian clergyman, succeeded 
Kewen, and held the office for three terms, of one year each. He 
was the first Superintendent to be reelected. The early Councils 
aopaiently believed in rotation in office, anl j^ave a Superiniendent 
but one year of honor — as to emoluments, there were none connected 
with the office. Of the subsequent history of Mr. Boardman, I know 
nothing. Having experimented in school supervision, with law, 
medicine and theology in about equal proportions, the Council for a 
time took a practical turn, probably in response to the public de- 
mand for practical education, and appointed business men to the 

office. 

A. F. Hinchman was engaged in transportation and shipping 

at the time of his appointment. His successor, O. L. Mix, was an 
accountant, clerk, book-keeper; also County Assessor and a general 
utility man in the clerical line. Then, the office gravitated back to 
the law, and for a time it was alternately law and gospel in the 
Bohools. Then the schools had a commercial training under mer- 
chant superintendents, another concessiou probably to the demand 
for a business education. Then the legal profession had one more 
trial, and that was the last. 

It was not until 1869, fifteen years after the office was created, 
that a teacher. Dr. T. H. Rose, was elected to the position. Rose was 
an ex-physician. He had given up the practice of medicine and 
adopted teaching for a profession. He was a successful teacher. 
That he did not succeed as Superintendent was through no fault of 
his. At that time the sexes were educated separately in the higher 
grades of schools. Dr. Rose was principal of the boys^ grammar 
school, and there was a lady principal of the girls' grammar school. 
The relations between the two principals were strained to the utmost 
before Dr. Rose's election, and after that event they snapped asunder. 
The lady principal defied his authority and refused to be supervised. 
An investigation of the law, governing the schools revealed the fact 
that the office existed in name, but the incumbent had neither 
power nor authority tn enforce his decrees. So the office died of inani- 
tion and the schools worried along for nearly three years without a 
Superintendent. In 1873, Dr. W. T. Lucky, a professional teacher, 
was appointed by the Board of Education. The succeeding Super- 
intendents have all been selected from the educational ranks. 



SECRETARY'S REPORT 

i897. 



TotheQffieer$andMeniber$oftheHi9U)rie^ 
Your secretary reports as follows: 

Number of meetings held 9 

Number of papers read W 

Number of new members admitted 7 

Number of members died 2 

In addition to the regular monthly meetings of the society a 
meeting was held conjointly with the California Society, Sons of the 
Beyolution, and the Eschscholtzia Chapter, Daughters of the Amre- 
ican Beyolution, on the eyening of July 3 to commemorate the fiftieth 
anniyersary of the first celebration of the Fourh of July held in Oali- 
fomia. The first public celebration of our nation's birtiiday in Cali- 
fornia was held in Fort Moore on Fort Hill, Los Angeles, July 4, 1847. 

The following, taken from the Daily Times' report of the meet- 
ing, describes the hall decorations and giyes a brief synopsis of the 
exercises : 

^'A large audience filled the hall of the Friday Morning Club last 
night for the purpose of assisting at a commemoratiye celebration 
of California's first Fourth of July, which occurred just half a cen- 
tury ago. The obseryance of this semi-centennial Independence day 
in the history of California was held under the auspices of the His- 
torical Society of Southern California, the Eschscholtzia Chapter, 
Daughters of the American Reyolution, and the California Societiy, 
Sons of the Reyolution. 

'The hall was draped with flags and red, white and blue bunting. 
The president's desk was hidden under the folds of the old flag, and 
aboye his head hung a large portrait of Washington. At the head 
of the hall hung the shield of the Historical Society, bearing in pan- 
els the insignia of the three governments which haye ruled oyer 
the territory of California, Spain, Mexico and the United States. Be- 
neath hung the silver shield of the Sons of the Reyolution, with a 
golden-embossed center, surrounded by a horse shoe of gold stars, one 
for each of the thirteen odginal States, set in a dark-blue bed. Pho- 
tographs and maps of old Fort Moore covered the walls and lent viv- 



SECRETARY'S REPORT. 83 

idness to the historical references of the speakers who dealt with the 
Golden State's first Fourth of July. , 

''As an introductory measurCi a quartette, consisting of Misses 
Edna Foy, Beatrice Kohler, Vella Knox and Sarah Simonds, played 
Schubert's 'Iklarche Militaire/' which was enthusiastically received. 
"After this musical call to order, Dr. J. D. Moody in a few in- 
troductory remarks spoke of the peculiar interest of the present day. 
Just fifty years ago today the first Fourth of July was celebrated m 
Southern California by Col. Stevenson and his soldiers. It was 
especially fitting at this half-century date to celebrate in proper 
form the anniversary of that event. It is the duty and work of tne 
Historical Society to preserve all data bearing upon such occasions, 
and it is fortunately in possession of a perfect treasure house of his- 
torical information, upon which the present and future generation 
will satisfy their hunger for knowledge. Then referring to the pe- 
culiar interest of the day celebrated, and especially on this occasion 
from the Californian's standpoint, Dr. Moody introduced J. M. Guinn, 
secretary of the Historical Society, who gave an extremely interest- 
ing address on ''July 4, 1847," in which he reviewed from a historical 
standpoint the events leading to the conquest of California. He 
gave a description of of the building of old Fort Moore on Fort Hill, 
in this city, where the Fourth of July was first celebrated in Califor- 
nia. He described the celebration — the soldiers drawn up in a hol- 
low square and the native Calif omians seated jon their horses be- 
yond. The Declaration of Independence was read in Spanish by 
Stephen C. Foster for the benefit of the newly-made citizens, and in 
English by Capt. Stuart Taylor. A salute was fired from the guns of 
the fort and the day closed with a ball." 

After the singing of the ''Red, White and Blue" by Capt. J. A. Os- 
goody in the chorus of which the audience joined heartily. Col. S. O. 
Houghton was introduced. His subject was "California Fifty Years 
Ago." Col. Houghton came to the Coast as adjutant of Col. Steven- 
son's regiment of New York Volunteers, landing in California in 
March, 1847. He described the country and the manners and cus- 
toms of the people as he saw them fifty years ago. He related a 
number of his early personal experiences which lent local color to 
his reminiscences. His address was exceedingly inte resting. 

Holdridge O. Collins, president of the California Society, Sons 
of the Revolution, delivered an interesting and instructive address 
on the purposes and work of that society. He introduced his subject 
by saying: "The society of Sons of the Revolution, existing in nearly 



84 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CAUFORNIA. 

every State and Territory of oar country, with an earnest and zealons 
membership of about twenty thousand gentlemen, has, as one of its 
principal objects the perpetuation of the records of those whose sac- 
rifices of blood and treasure, wrested from the most powerfol nation 
of the earth, an empire whose natal day, as an independent sovereignty 
we celebrate this evening." He outlined some of the needs of the 
present time that demand the cultivation of patriotism in the people. 
The regent of the Eschscholtzia Chapter of the Danghters of the 
American Revolution made a short address on behalf <rf that organ- 
xation. The closing address of the evening was delivered by Major 
J. A. Donnell, his subject being ^'Old and New England." He 
traced the growth of the sentiment of liberty from the days of 
Magna Charta in old England; its transfer to New England and its 
expansion and development in the new world. 

A number of valuable donations have been received this year. 
Among the most valuable of these are bound files of the Los Angles 
Daily Star, beginning July, 1873, and running consecutively to July, 
1877; also the San Diego Weekly Bulletin from July, 1870, to Feb- 
ruary, 1873, and the Sacramento Daily Record, from December, 1873, 
to March, 1874. These constitute nine large volumes. They w«e 
donated to the society by Major Ben C. Truman, who was editor 
and publisher of the Bulletin and the Star between! he dates men- 
tioned. The society returns him its most sincere thanks for his val- 
uablv donation. 

The volumes of the Star donated by Major Truman fill a break 
in our set of that )>aper; and taken in connecticHi with sets of other 
city iHiiH'rs in our possession, give us an almost unbroken file of Los 
Angi^lee papers from July, 1854, down to the present time — ^the most 
nearly complete of any file in existence^ 

l>r. J. S. i\>wen of Fort Jones, Siskiyou county, Cal., throofl^ 
Mr, NimUi l^evering, presented to the society a number of Indian relies 
for which the society returns its thanks. 

J. M. GUIXN, Secretary: 



REPORT OF THE PUBLICATION COMMITTEE. 

1897, 



To the Officers and Members of the Historical Society of Southern CaUfomia : 

We, the ondersigned members of the society's Committee on 
Pablication, do respectfully report that in accordance with the order 
of the board of directors, we have selected matter for and have 
printed the required number of the society's annual for 1897. In ad- 
dition to the 500 copies ordered by the board of directors, we have 
had 200 printed for the Pioneers of Los Angeles county. These 
copies that organization takes at cost. The annual publication of 
the society bears in addition to the usual title — "Pioneer Register." 
It contains a sketch of the organization of the Pioneers of Los An- 
geles county, a list of the officers of that society, its constitution, 
bylaws and roll of members to February 1, 1898. 

The present number contains half-tone cuts of four distinguished 
pioneers recently deceased. It is designed, in future issues of our 
annual, to make the biographies of noted pioneers a prominent 
feature. 

During the year your committee has endeavored to provide for 
the different meetings of the society as varied a programme as pos- 
sible. The papers presented cover a wide range of subjects, but all 
pertain to some phase of history. 

In this, as well as in all previous publications of the society, it 
is understood the authors and not the society or the committee are 
responsible for the statements made in their papers, and for the 
views and opinions expressed. 

The following are the titles of papers read before the society 
during the year 1897: (No meetings were held in the months of Janu- 
ary, August and September.) 

FEBRUARY. 
President's Inaugural Address Dr. J. D. Moody 

MARCH. 
''Forgotten Landmarks" J. M. Guinn 



86 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

APRIL. 

Don David W. Alexander H. D. Barrows 

^'Camping in Yosemite" Dr. Kate C. Moody 

MAY. 

"A Study of Carnivals'' Dr. J. D. Moody 

"Gov. Felipe de Neve" H. D. Barrows 

JUNE. 
"The Santa Barbara Indians Dr. Stephen Bowers, A. M., Ph. D. 

JULY. 
"Old Port Moore" J. M. Guinn 

OCTOBER. 

Biographical Sketch of Dr. Wm. P. Edgar H. D. Barrows 

"The California Indians" Prof. A. E. Yerex 

^Tioneer School Superintendents of Los Angeles J. M. Goinn 

NOVEMBER. 

"Echoes of the Revolution Dr. J. D. Moody 

"The Cantilever Bridge of the Colorado. .Mrs. M. Burton Williamson 
"Our Society's Fourteenth Birthday" J. M. Guinn 

DECEMBER. 
"Two Notable Pioneers, Col. J. J. Ayers and George Hansen, 

H. D. Barrows 

Respectfully submitted. 

H. D. BARROWS, 
J. M. GUINN, 
R L. ASHLEY, 
Committee on Publication. 



CURATOR'S REPORT. 

Whole number of bound yolumes 845 

Number of pamphlets and paper-coTered books 3756 

Number of daily pajiers received and filed for binding 5 

Number of weekly newspapers 5 

Number of monthly magazines 5 

Number of quarterlies 7 

The sooiety has a large collection of curios, relics, pictures, pho- 
tographs, autograpghs, maps and Spanish documents. On account of 
the cramped and inadequate quarters in which the society is com- 
pelled to store its library and other historical material (not having 
the means to procure more suitable rooms,) its collection has not 
been classified and catalogued. A large amount of our material is 
boxed up and is not easily accessible. We keep adding to our col- 
lection; and we live in hopes that some liberal-minded donor may 

sometime in the future donate us the means to fit up an historical 

museum. J. M. OXJINN, Curator. 



TREASURER'S REPORT. 

Jaii*y 4, 18^, to Jao*y 3, 1898. 

1897. RECEIPTS. 

Jan'7 4 — Balance on hand as per Treasurer's Report of this date. . $85 45 

Dues paid to Jan'y 3, 1898 46 65 

1897 Membership fees 10 00 

Jan'7 3, 1898. 

Total receipts $i4j 10 

1897. DISBURSEMENTS. 

Feb'y 5 — Pnnting Annual $82 00 

^ 13 Rent and gas, January and February meetings i 50 
Mch 12 Expenses of March meeting and entertain- 
ment 5 90 

Secretary's expenses, viz., postage, envelopes, 

paper and postal cards 9 15 

Express and drayage 225 

Janitor's services cleaning Society rooms .... i 50 

Lock and repairs on mail box 75 

Binding 3 volumes Society's publications 2 10 

Balance on hand 3^ 95 

$142 10— -$142 10 

Balance on hand $36 95 

E. Baxter, Treaanrtx* 





pioneei^s of Cos p[,n0eles G^^^^' 



OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 

1897-98. 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 
B. S. Eaton Louis Rosder 

J. M. Griffith J. M. Guink 

Wm. H. Workman H. D. Barrows 

Henry W. O'Melveny 

OFFICERS. 
B. S. Eaton -------- President 

J. M. Griffith ------ First Vice-President 

Wm. H. Workman ----- Second Vice-President 

Louis Roeder __---_-_ Treasurer 
J. M. GuiNN -------- Secretary 

COMMITTEE ON MEMBERSHIP. 
J. W. Gillette Wm. Ferguson 

August Schmidt 

FINANCE COMMITTEE. 
Horace Hiller D. G. Stephens 

Joel B. Parker 



PIONEERS OF LOS AN0ELE5 COUNTY. 



HISTORICAL SKBTCH OP THB ORGANIZATION. 



BY J. M. GUINN. 

Although the first discovery of gold was made within the present 
limits of Los Angeles county, and the first miners' rush that» ever 
took place on the Pacific Coast was to the gold placers of the Sierra 
Madre foothills, yet but very few of the Argonauts located in Los 
Angeles. The emigration to California by the southern routes across 
the plains brouight thousands of gold-seekers into Los Angeles. 
Their stay here was brief; they hurried .on to the gold fields of 
Northern California. Los Angeles was contemptuously spoken of as 
a cow county. Her genial climate and fertile soil had no attractions 
for men who were not looking for climate and who had no use for 
any soil not mixed with gold dust. 

From these causes pioneers of the early American era have 
never been a numerous cla^ss in Los Angeles. Not attempt seems to 
have been made in early days to form a Society of Pioneers similar 
to the societies formed in San Francisco, Sacramento, Stockton, Ban 
Jos^ and other cities and towns of Northern and Central California^ 

About ten years ago an organization was effected of persons who 
came to California previous to its admission as a State. Hon. B. S. 
Eaton was the president and Francis Baker, secretary. The mem- 
bership was small, and the society after a brief existence dissolved. 
There were not enough pioneers of the class entitled by its. rules to 
membership to support a society. 

For several years past the question of forming a Pioneer So- 
ciety or an Old Settlers' Association has been discussed by old- 
timers, but no definite action was taken toward forming such an or- 
ganization until the 2d of August, 1897, when in response to an edi- 
torial in the Daily Herald and an invitation sent tot some of the old 
residents, a meeting was held on the afternoon of the above date in 
the business office of the Herald (then located on Third street, in the 
Bradbury Block,) to take the preliminary steps toward formimg a 
Pioneer society. There were present J. M. Griffith, A. L. Both, H. 
H. 8. Orme, M. Teed, J. M. Elliott, J. W. Gillette, J. M. Quinn, tt. 



90 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

W. O'Melveny and W. A. Spalding. J. M. Griffith acted as presi- 
dent and W. A. Spalding as secretary. The sentiment of the meet- 
ing was in favor of a large organization. No definite date of ar- 
rival in the county was fixed upon as a requisite for membership. A 
committee to formulate a plan of organization was appointed. The 
members of the committee were H. D. Barrows, J. W. Gillette, J. 
M. Guinn, Dr. H. S. Orme, Dr. J. S. Griffin, Harris Newmark, Henry 
W. O'Melveny and B. S. Eaton. The president of the meeting J. M. 
Griffith, was made a member of the committee. The meeting then 
adjourned. 

August 5, 1897, in response to an invitation from Henry W. 
O'Melveny, Esq., the Committee on Organization met in the rooms 
of the California Club, Wilcox Block; present of the committee, J. 
M. Griffith B. S. Eaton, H. D. Barrows, J. W. Gillette, H. W. O'Md- 
veny, J. M. Guinn and H. S. Orme. 

On motion of J. M. Guinn, Judge B. S. Eaton was elected chair- 
man. On motion of Dr. H. S. Orme, J. M. Guinn was chosen secre- 
tary. On motion of J. W. Gillette, "The Society of Pioneers of Los 
Angeles County" was selected as the name of the organization. H. 
W. O'Melveny moved that persons arriving in the county of Los An- 
geles on or before December 31, 1870, be considered eligible to mem- 
bership. The motion was seconded, and after considerable discus- 
sion, carried. 

On motion, B. S. Eaton, H. D. iBarrows and J. M. Guinn were 
appointed a sub-committee to draft a constitution and by-laws and 
submit the same for the approval of the general committee at a 
meeting to be held August 10. J. M. Griffith invited the committee 
and reporters of the daily papers present to join him in a dinner at 
the club rooms on the evening of the 10th. Adjourned. 

August 10, the committee met in the club rooms, and after par- 
taking of a sumptuous dinner given by Hon. J. M. Griffith proceeded 
to business. Present of the committee: J. M. Griffith, B. S. Eatcm, 
J. W. Gillette, H. D. Barrows, J. M. Guinn and H. S. Orme. 

The sub-committee appointed at the previous meeting submitted 
a draft of a constitution and by-laws. The committee recomended 
for the name of the organization, "Pioneers of Los Angeles County," 
and that the time of residence in the county to render a person eligi- 
ble to membership be fixed at twenty-five years. It was argued that 
by adopting a movable date for eligibility to membership the society 
would continue to grow, whereas if a fixed date was adopted the so- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 91 

oiety would begin to deoline as soon as all eligible had been enrolled. 
The oonstitation and by-laws, after a few changes, were adopted by 
the fall committee. It was decided to call a meeting of persons eligi- 
ble to membership under the clause of the constitution just adopted 
to assemble in the hall of the Chamber of Commerce, September 4, 
1897, at 8 p.m., for the purpose of adopting a constitution and by- 
laws, electing officers and otherwise completing the organization. 

At the meeting of September 4, twenty-four persons were pres- 
ent, and signed the roll and paid the annual fee. The constitution 
and by-laws prepared by the Committee on Organization were sub- 
mitted, and, after a few changes, adopted. The following-named 
persons were chosen a Board of Directors: Louis Boeder, W. EL 
Workman, H. D. Barrows, J. M. Griffith, B. S. Eaton, H. W. O'Mel- 
yeny and J. M. Ouinn. The directors then proceeded to elect the 
officers of the society from their number. B. S. Eaton was chosen 
president, J. M. Griffith, first vice-president; W. H. Workman, second 
vice-president; J. M. Guinn, secretary, and Louis Boeder, treasurer. 
At the meeting of October 4, ninety-six applications were received. 
It was decided to keep the roll of charter members open to and in- 
cluding the first meeting in January, 1898. When the charter, or 
founders' roll, closed on January 4, 1898, 180 members had been en- 
rolled in the organization. 



PIONEERS OF LOS ANQELES COUNTY. 



CONSTITUTION. 



[Adopted September 4, 1897.] 

ARTICLE I. 

This society shall be know nas The Pioneers of Los Angeles 
County. Its objects are to cultivate social intercourse and friend- 
ship among its members and to collect and preserve the early history 
of Los Angeles county, and perpetuate the memory of those) who, 
by their honorable labors and heroism, helped to make that history. 

ARTICLE IL 

All persons of good moral character, thirty-five years of age 
or over, who, at ^the date of their application, shall have resided at 
least twenty-five years in Los Angeles county, shall be eligible to 
membership. (Note. — At the meeting of January 4, 1898, it was de- 
cided by a vote of the socieLv that persons born in the stace are 
not eligible to membership.) 

ARTICLE III. 

The officers of this society shall consist of a board of seven di- 
rectors, to be elected annually at the annual meeting, by the mem- 
bers of the society. Said directors when elected shall choose a 
president, a first vice-president, a second vice-president, a secretary 
and a treasurer. The secretary and treasurer may be elected from 
the members outside the Board of Directors. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The annual meeting of this society shall be held on the fourth 
day of September, that being the anniversary of the first civic set- 
tlement in the southern portion of Alta California, to- wit, the found- 
ing of the Pueblo of Los Angeles, September 4, 1781. 



CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS. 93 

ARTICLE V. 

Members guilty of miscondnct may, upon conviction, after 
proper investigation has been held, be expelled, suspended, fined or 
reprimanded by a vote of two thirds of the members present at any 
stated meeting; provided, notice shall have been given to the society 
at least one month prior to such intended action. Any officer of this 
society may be removed by the Board of Directors for cause; pro- 
vided, that such removal shall ;not become permanent or final until 
approved by a majority of members of the society present at a stateo 
meeting and voting. 

ARTICLE VI. 

Amendments to this constitution may be made by submitting 
the same in writing to the Board of Directors at least one month prior 
to the annual meeting. At said annual meeting said proposed amend- 
ments shall be submitted to a vote of the society. If said amend- 
ments shall receive a two-thirds vote of all members present and vot- 
ing, the same shall be declared adopted. 



[Adopted September 4, 1897.] 

Bection 1. All members of this society who shall have signed 
the constitution and by-laws, or who shall have been duly elected 
to membership after the adoption of the constitution and by-laws 
shall be entitled to vote at all meetings of the society. 

Bection 2. The annual dues of each member shall be one dollar, 
payable in advance. 

Section 3. Each person on admission to membership shall sign 
the constitution and by-laws with his or her name in full, together 

with his or her place of birth, age, residence, occupation and the day, 
month and year of his or her arrival with in the limits of Los Angeles 
oounty. 

Bection 4. At the annual meeting, the president shall appcrfnt 
a committee of three on membership. He shall also at the same time 
ftpi)oint a committee of three on finance. All applications for mem- 



94 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

berahip shall be referred to the Oommittee on Memberahip for exam- 
ination. 

Section 5. Every applicant for membership shall be recom- 
mended by two members of the society in good standing. The appli- 
cation shall state the applicant's full name, age, birthplace, place of 
residence, occupation and date of his or her arriyal in the county 
of Los Angeles. 

Section 6. Each application must be accompanied by the an- 
nual fee (one dollar,) and shall lie over for one month, when a yadB 
shall be taken by ballot. Three negative votes shall cause the rejeo- 
tion of the applicant. 

Section 7. Any person eligible to membership may be elected 
a life member of this society on the payment to the treasurer of f25. 
life members shall enjoy all the privileges of active members, but 
shall not be required to pay annual dues. 

Section 8. The Finance Oommittee shall examine all accounts 
against the society, and no bill shall be paid by the treasurer unless 
approved by a majority of the Finance Committee. 

Section 9. Whenever a vacancy in any ofBce of this society oc- 
curs, the Board of Directors shall call a meeting of the society 
within thirty days thereafter, when said vacancy shall be filled by 
election for the remainder of the unexpired term. 

Section 10. Whenever the Board of Directors shall be satisfied 
that any worthy member of the society is unable for the time being 
to pay the annual dues, as hereinbefore prescribed, it shall have the 
power to remit the same. 

Section 11. The stated meetings of this society shall be held on 
the first Tuesday of each month, except the month of September, 
when the annual meeting shall take the place of the monthly meeting. 
Special meetings may be called by the president, or by a majority of 
the Board of Directors, but no business shall be transacted at such 
special meeting except that specified in the call. 

Section 12. Changes and amendmenti^ of these by-laws may be 
made by submittinig the same in writing to the Board of Directors 
at least one month prior to any stated meeting. Said proposed 
amendments shall be submitted to a vote of the society. If said 
amendments shall receive a two-thirds vote of all members present 
and voting, the same shall be declared adopted. 



ROLL OF CHARTER MEMBER5. 



Name. 



Age. Birthplace. Ocupa'n. Ar. in Co. Res. Ar. in S 



Abemethy,Wni. B., 59 

Abemethy, Laura G. 46 

Aycn, James J. * 67 

• Died Not. zo, z897 

Bath. Albert L. 68 

Baker, Prmnds 69 

Barclay, John H. 54 

Barrows, Henry D. 72 

Barrows, James A. 67 

Bayer, Joseph 51 
Bilderbeck, Mrs.Dorass 

Bent, Henry K. W. 66 

Bixby, Jotham 66 

Bicknell, John D. 59 

Bouton, Edward i$ 
Brode, Charles 

Brossmer, Sig. 53 

Bush, Charles H. 62 

Boms, James P. 66 

Butterfield, S. H 49 

Caswell, Wm. M. 40 

Conkelman, Bernard 65 



Cohn, Kaspare 
Crimminst John 
Crawford, J. S. 
Craig, James 
Curlier, A. T. 

Dalton, W. T. 
DaTis, A. B. 
DsTis, John 
Dooner, P. W. 
Doha, Pred 
Dodson, Wm. R. 
Dotter, John C. 
Desmond, D. 
Desmond, C. C. 
Dunkelbeiger, I. R. 
Dnnlap, J. D. 
Dryden, Wm . 



58 
46 
60 

56 
57 

52 

57 
57 
53 
51 
56 
60 

63 

36 

6S 
72 

61 

Eaton, Benj.S. 73 

Baton, Prederick 42 
Bbinger, Louis 53 



Missouri Merchant Apr '72 6x7 W. 9th 

Iowa Apr '72 617 W. 9th 

Scotland Bditor Aug x8,'72 Axusa 



Nova Scotia 

Mass. 

Canada 

Conn. 

Conn. 

Germany 

Ky. 

Mass. 

Maine 

Vt. 

New York 

Germany 

Germany 

Penn. 

New York 

Penn. 

California 

Germany 

Germany 

Ireland 

N. Y. 

Ireland 

Maine 



Retired 1871 608 W. 5th st 

Speculator Sep I7,'5X 1333 Wright st 
Carpenter Aug '7X Pemando 
Retired Dec 12,^54 724 Beacon 
Retired May '68 236 Jefferson 
Oil Producer July 4,'7o 746 Broadway 
Dressmaker Jan X4,'6x 227 N. Hill 
Retired Oct. '98 Claremont 
Capitalist June '66 Long Beach 
Attorney May '72 
Real BsUte Aug '68 
Merchant Jan X9,69 
Builder Not 28, '68 129 Wilm'n 
Jeweler March '70 3x8 N. Main 
Agent Nov i8,'53 152 Wright 

Parmer Aug '69 Burbank 

Cashier Aug 3/67 X093 E Wash. 
Retired Jan 3»'67 310 S. L* A. st 
Merchant Dec '59 121 1 S. Hill 
Mast Plumb March '69 127 W. 25th 
Dentist 1866 Downey Blk 

Civil Eng'r April '69 Lamanda 
Parmer July x, '69 Spadra 



226 S. Hill 
769Castelar 
I229S. OUve 



Ohio 

N. Y. 

N. Y. 

Canada 

Germany 

Arkansas 

Germany 

Ireland 

Mass. 

Pa. 

N. H. 

N.Y. 



Pruit Gro'er 1851 

Supervisor Nov '65 

Carpenter April '72 

Lawyer May 1/72 

Capitalist Sept '69 

Hotel k'p'r Sept '68 

Merchant June 2o,'59 



Merchant 

Merchant 

Retired 

Miner 

Parmer 



Sept2,'69 
Sept '70 
Jan '66 

Nov '59 
May '68 



1900 Cen'l Ave 
2904 Ver Ave 
University 
848 S. Broad'y 
6i4E.PirBtst 
El Monte 
608 Temple 
937 S. Hill 
724 Coronado 
1218 W. 9th 
Silverado 
Los Angeles 



ate. 

853 
866 

849 

851 
849 
869 
852 
868 
868 
86x 
858 
898 
1868 
868 

86^ 
870 

853 
868 

857 
864 

659 
869 
858 
868 
861 

851 

857 
872 

872 

858 
868 

859 
868 

870 

866 

850 



Conn* Manniact'r 185X 433 Sherman a 

California Civil Eng'r 1855 460 West Lake 

Germany Merchant Oct9,'7x 755 Maple Ave 



855 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



EUiott,J. M. 

Porter, Stephen C * 
Pleishmaiii Henry J. 
Foy, Samnel C. 
Pnrgiuon, Wm. 
Fnrrey. Wm. C. 
•Diedjaii.27, X898. 

Oarty, Thomas A. 
Garrey, Richard 
Gage, Henry T. 
GiUette, J. W. 
GiUette, Mrs. B. S. 
Gonld, Will D. 
Glassell, Andrew 
GoUmer, Charles 
Gibson, Prank A. 
Griffith,;. M. 
Green, H. K. 
Green, Ployd B. 
Gninn, James M. 
Golds worthy, John 
Griffin, John S. 



52 S. C. Banker 

78 Maine Retired 

35 Califomia Cashier 

67 D. C. Merchant 

66 Arkansas Retired 

53 N. Y. Merchant 



Not '70 Alhambra 1870 

March 23, '47 221 B Second. 1846 
Jnly 5, '62 221 W. Ponrth 1862 
March '54 651 S. Pigr'oa 1852 
April '69 303 S. Hill 1850 
Ang 72 zxo3lngraham 1865 



67 Ohio 

58 Ireland 

44 N. Y. 

60 N. Y. 

43 Illinois 

52 Vt. 

67 Va. 

47 Germany 

46 Iowa 

68 Md. 
57 N. Y. 
... Illinois 
62 Ohio 

57 Bngland 

8a Va. 



Nurseryman 

Parmer 

Attorney 

Inspector 

Housewife 

Attorney 

Attorney 

Merchant 

Banker 

Retired 

Manufact'er 

Mannfact'er 

Retired 

Surveyor 

Physician 



OctX4,'52 . 
Dec '58 
Aug '72 
May '62 
Aug '68 
Peb 28,'72 
Dec *65 
x868 

Dec 1/72 
April '61 
May '72 
May '72 
Oct 18, '69 
March 20,^69 
J*n 7, '47 



Haines, Rufus R. 71 

Harris, Bmil 58 

Hargett, C. 75 

Harper, C. P. 65 

Harris, Leopold 62 

Hazard, Geo. W. 55 

Hazard, Henry T. 54 
Hellman, Herman W. 53 

Heinzeman, C. P. 56 

Horgan, T. 63 

Hunter, Jane E 54 

Hiller, Horace 53 

Huber, C. E. 52 

Jacoby, Nathan 68 

Jacoby, Morris 48 

James, Alfred 68 

Jenkins, Charles M. 58 

Johnson, Charles R. 68 

Keyes, Charles G. 50 

Kremer, M. 74 
Kremer, Mrs. Matilda 60 

Kuhrts, Jacob 65 

Kurtz, Joseph 55 

Kysor, E. K. 63 

Lamboum, Pred 60 



Maine 

Prussia 

England 

N. C. 

Prussia 

Illinois 

Illinois 

Germany 

Germany 

Ireland 

N. Y. 

N. Y. 

Ky. 

Prussia 

Prussia 

Ohio 

Ohio 

Mass. 



Telegrapher June '71, 

Detective April 9,^67 
Carpenter July '72 

Merchant May '68 

Merchant Feb 4,^54 

Clerk Dec 25, '54 

Attorney Dec 25, '54 

Banker May i4»'59 

Druggist June 6, '68 

Plasterer Sept 18, '70 

Jan '66 

Merchant Oct '69 

Agent July '59 

Merchant July '61 
Merchant 1865 
Miner April '68 

Dep Sheriff March I9„5X 
Accountant 185 1 



Vt. Clerk 

Prance Ins Agent 

N.Y 

Germany Merchant 
Germany Physician 
N. Y. Retired 

Bngland Grocer 



Nov 25, '68 
March '52 
Sept '54 
May 10, '58 
Peb 2, 68 
April '69 

Dec '59 



2822 Maple Av 1852 
San Gabriel 1858 
XX46 W. 28th X872 
322 Temple 1858 
322 Temple 1864 
Beaudry Av 1872 
352 Buena Vis 1853 
X520 Plower 1868 
520 Court St x866 
I/M Angeles X852 
W. Ninth St 1872 
W. Ninth St X872 
115 S. Grand Av 1864 
790 E. i6th St X852 
1109 Dow'y Av 1846 

218 W. 27th 1857 
1026 W. 8th St X857 
747 Yale 1871 

I/aurel 1863 

935 S. Hill 185^ 
841 S Olive 1854 
2826 S. Hope 1854 
954 Hill 1859 

620 S.Grand Av 1868 
320 Jackson 1858 

327 S. Broadway 

147 W. 23d St 1869 
836 S.Broadway X859 

739 Hope St x86i 
Los Angeles 1865 
loi N.B.Hill Av 1853 
1158 Santee 1851 
I/M Angeles 1847 

209N.Workm'n 1852 
754 Hope X850 

754 Hope X858 

107 W. Pirst St X848 
361 Buena Vista X867 
323 Bonnie Brae 1865 

8o4jud8onst 1859 



ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS. 



97 



Lankenhim, J. B. 47 
La Dow» S. W. 75 

IttoBxd, Solomon ya 
Loab. Leon 52 

Leck» Henry Vander 38 
Lcmbcke, Charles M. 68 
Leconrreur, Prank 68 
herj, Michel 63 



MlBSOuri Capitalist 1872 
N. Y. Parmer May '5a 
Prance Retired 1851 
Prance Merchant Peb '66 
California Merchant Dec 14, '59 
Germany Pickle wks March ao,'57 
Germany Snnreyor March 6/55 
Prance Merchant Oct '68 



950 S. Olive St 


1854 


I4OB Angeles 


1852 


6o8SeTenthst 


1851 


X521 S. Hope 


x866 


2309 Plower 


X859 


577 liOB Angeles 1851 


651 S. Main st 


i86x 


622 Kip St 


185X 



Macy, Oscar 

Mappa, Adam G. 

Mercadante, N. 

Mesmer, Joseph 

Messer, K. 

Meyer, Samnel 

Melzer, Loois 

Mitchell, Newell H 

Moore, Isaac N. 

Mnllaly, Joseph 
McLain, Geo, P. 

McLean, Wm. 

McDonald, B. N. 

McMollin, W. G. 

Norton, Isaac 
Newmark, Harris 
Newmark, M. J. 
Newell, J. G. 
Nichols, Thomas B 



68 Indiana 

74 N.Y. 

49 Italy 
41 Ohio 

73 Germany 

67 Germany 

50 Bohemia 

54 Ohio 

60 Illinois 

78 Ohio 

50 Va. 

55 Scotland 
67 N. Y. 
49 Canada 



Parmer 1850 

Search Rec Not '64 

Grocer April 16, '69 

Merchant Sept '59 

Retired Peb '54 

Merchant April '53 

Stationer April i, '70 

Hotel k'p'rSept 26, '68 

Retired Not '69 

Retired March 5, '54 
Merchant Jan 2, '68 

Contractor 1869 

Capitalist Oct 23, '53 

Dep Sheriff Jan '70 



Alhambra 1850 

Los Angeles 1864 

429 San Pedro x86x 

1706 Manitou Aye 1859 

226 Jackson 185X 

1337 S. Hope 1853 

900 Pearl 1868 

Pasadena 1869 

130 Hancock 1863 

417 College 1805 

446 N. Grand At X867 

561 S. Hope 1869 

Wilmington X853 

Station D 1867 



53 Poland Sec Loan As Not '6q 

63 Germany Merchant Oct 22, '50 

59 N. Y.' Merchant Sept '54 

68 Canada Laborer July 14, '58 

39 California City And 1858 

Orme, Heory S. 59 Georgia Physician July 4, '6g 

Osborne, John 60 Bngland Retired Nov 14, '68 

Osbom, Wm. M. 63 N. Y. Livery March '58 

O'Melyeny, Bdw S. 41 Illinois Pr Tran Co, Nov '69 

0*Melvcny, Henry W.37 Illinois Attorney Nov 69 



1364 Pigneroa st 
105 1 Grand Ay 
1047 Grand Av 
2417 W.9th8t 
221 W. 3i8t st 

175 S. Spring st 
322 W. 30th st 
973 W.Twelfth 
Melrose Aye 
Baker Block 



Parker, Joel B. 
Peschke, William 
Pike, Geo. H. 
Peck, Geo. H. 
Ponet, Victor 
Pridham, Wm. 



57 N. Y. Parmer April 20, '70 512 B. Twelfth 

78 Germany Retired April I3,'65 538 Macy st 

62 Mass. Retired 1867 Los Angeles 

78 Vt. Parmer Dec '68 Bl Monte 

61 Belgium Capitalist Oct '69 Alvarado st 

6x N. Y. Snp W-P Co Ang 28, '68 Baker Block 



Qninn, Michael P. 61 

Raab, David M. 55 

Raynes, Prank 47 

Reichard, Daniel 57 

Riley, James M. 57 

Richardson, B. W. 47 
Richardson, W. C. B. 82 

Roeder, Louis 65 

Rowan, Thomas B. 64 



N. Y. 

Germany 

Bngland 

Ohio 

Mo. 

Ohio 

N. H. 

Germany 

N.Y. 



Parmer Marc 1 3, '59 Bl Monte 
Dairyman May lo, '69 



Lumber'n Ang '7I 
Livery July '68 
Manufact'r Dec '66 
Dairyman Sept '7I 
Surveyor 1868 
Retired Nov 28, '66 
Broker March I860 



South Pasadena 

Pomona 

459 Beaudry 

II05 S. Olive st 

Tropico 

Tropico 

3I9 Boyd st 



1x69 

1853 

1853 
X850 

1858 

1868 
1854 

1855 
X869 

X869 

1870 
1852 
1858 

X849 
1867 
1854 

1859 

I87I 

1868 

I857 
I87I 

J868 

1866 



98 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 



Robin on, W. W. 63 Noya Soo Clerk Sept '68 

Roberts, Henry C. 64 Pa. Fruit Gto'r 1854 

Rinaldi, Carl A. R. 64 Germany Horticnl'st April '54 

Rendall, Stephen A. 60 England RealBstateMay 1. '66 



Sabichi, Prank 55 
Schmidt,Gottfried L. 52 

Schmidt, Angnst 58 

Hchaffer, John 67 

Shorb, A. S. 60 

Schieck, Daniel 77 

Soward, Charles 54 

StoU, Simon 52 

Stewart. J. M. 68 

Stephens, Daniel G. 64 

Stephens, Mrs. B.T. ... 

Smith, Isaac S. 65 
Smith, Mrs. M. W. de 45 

StroDg, Robert 61 

Snyder, Z. T. 46 



California Attorney I842 
Denmark Parmer Aug '64 
Germany Retired May '69 
Holland Retired March '72 
Ohio Physician June '7I 

Germany Retired Oct 24, '55 
Ky. Teacher Oct '7 1 

Ky. Merchant Ante '69 

N. H. Retired May 14, '70 
N. J. Orchardist April '61 

Maine I869 

N. Y. M'g'r La Bu Nov '7I 
Texas Housewife Feb '59 
N. Y. Broker March '72 
Indiana Parmer April '72 



Teed, Mathew 
Thom, Cameron B. 
Taft, Mrs. Mary H. 
Thomas, John M 
Thurman, S. D. 
Town, R. M. 
Truman, Ben C. 
Turner, Wm. P. 



69 England Carpenter Jan '63 

72 Va. Attorney April '54 

58 Mich. Housewife Dec 25, '64 

61 Indiana Parmer Dec 7, '68 
54 Tenn. Parmer 
53 Illinois Parmer 

62 R. I. Author 
58 Ohio Grocer 



Sept 15. '52 
Nov 1, '69 
Pebl, '72 
May '58 



Ulyard, Augustus 81 

Ulyard, Mrs. Mary 67 

Vogt, Henry 70 

Workman, Wm. H. 58 

Workman, E. H. 60 

Wiley, Henry C. 68 

Wise, Kenneth D. 63 
Williamson, Geo. W. 89 

Weyse, Rudolph G. 87 
Weyse, Mrs. A.W. B. 35 

Wright, Charles M. 61 

White, Charles H. 44 

Weid, Ivar A. 57 

Wilson, C. N, 67 

Wilson, John T. 87 

Yamell, Jesse 60 

Young, John D. 55 



Pa. Baker Dec 31, '52 

England Housewife Dec 31, '52 



115 S. Olive St 1851 

Azusa 185o 

Fernando 1854 

905 Alvarado 1861 

2437 Pigueroa I842 

I/)s Angeles 

7I0 S. Olive I869 

Los Angeles I349 

652 Adams I87I 

224 Franklin 1852 

El Monte 18C8 
8o2S. Broadway I869 

512 W .3oth St 

Station 7 1859 

Station 7 z866 

2I9 N. Olive St 1859 

70I Central Ave 1867 

PasHdena I872 

Tropico I872 

513 CalifomU st 1854 

I18 B. Third st I849 

459 S. Hill st 1854 

Monrovia I859 

El Monte 1852 

Toluca 1569 

Twenty-third st 1866 

608 N. Griffin 1858 

8I9 Flower st 1852 

8I9 Flower st 1852 



Germany Builder Jan 4, '69 Castelar st 



1854 



Mo. 

Mo. 

Pa. 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Cal. 

Cal. 

Vt. 

Mass. 

Denmark 

Ohio 

Pa. 

Ohio 
Mo. 



Real Est x854 
Real Est i854 
Speculator July 3, '52 
Physician Sept '72 
Capitalist 1871 
Bookkee'r Jan 29, '60 
Housewife July 16, '62 
Parmer July '59 
S P Co Nov. '72 
I/andlord 1872 
Lawyer Jan 9, '71 
Parmer Jan 9, '71 



357 Boyle Ave 1854 

i2o Boyle Av 1854 

309 S. Hill i852 
1351 S.Grand Ave 1872 

Los Angeles 1872 

339 Bunker Hill i860 

339 Bunker Hill i862 

Spadra 1859 
1 137 Ingraham st 

741 S. Main 

Fernando 1870 

Fernando 1870 



Printer April '67 1808 W. First st i862 
Farmer Oct '65 8607 Pigueroa i853 



ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS. 



99 



Barrows, Cornelia 8. 
Oarkc, N. J. 
Davit, Bmily W. 
French, Loring W. 
Newmark, Mrs. H. 
Mott, Thomas D. 
Sootti P. M. 
MeUns, J. J. 
Yamell, Mis. S. C. 



ADMITTED FEBRUARY i, 1898. 

62 Ct May '68 

76 N. H. Retired 1849 

47 Illinois i865 

57 Indiana Dentist Oct * 68 

57 N. Y Septl6, *64 

68 N.Y. Retired i852 

75 Illinois Real Est Sept '73 

48 Vass. Com Mer i853 

5i Wis. Hous-wife April '67 



W. Jefferson x868 

317 S. Hill 1849 

1:904 Vermont Aye i856 

837 Alyarado l863 

1061 -'. Grand Aye 1854 

645 S. 3tain st 1849 

222 Mo'ton Ave 

167 W. Adams 1853 

1808 W. First St x856 



FKanixcd November i, tSS]. 
PART II. 



Incorporaled Fe^nla^y i^, 1891. • 
VOL. IV. 5 



ANNUAL PUBLICATION 



Historical Society! 



Southern California 



I 


■ ■ " AND 

PIONEER REGISTER 


i 

!| 


■ 


^K Los Angeles 


M 


1 


P i8q8 


1 


p 


Published by the Society 




LOS ANGELES. CAL 


ll 





Historical Society 



OF 



Southern California 



LOS ANGELES, 1898 



FIFTEEN YEARS OF LOCAL HISTORY WORK 

BY J. M. GUINN. 

On the first of November, 1898, the Historical Society of South- 
em California was fifteen years old. While comparatively young 
in years, yet it is the senior Historical SocitAly of the Pacific Coast, 
and is the oldest literary society or association in Los Angeles. 
On the evening of November 1, 1883, in a room on the southwest 
comer of old Temple Block, the following-named gentlemen met 
fcr the purpose of organizing a historical society: Col. J. J. War- 
ner, H. D. Barrows, N. Levering, Gen. John Mansfield, Prof. J. M. 
Goinn, Maj. C. N. Wilson, Ex.-Gov. J. G. Downey, Prof. Ira More, 
J. B. Niles, A. Kohler, Don Antonio, F. Coronel, George Hansen, 
A. J. Bradfield, Maj. E. W. Jones and Prof. Marcus Baker. 

Of the fifteen men who took part in that first meeting eight are 
dead — four have been lost by removal from the city or by with- 
drawal from the society; only three remain members of the so- 
ciety, viz., H. D. Barrows, N. Levering and J. M. Guinn. Weekly 
meetings were held throughout the month of November. A con- 
stitution and standing rules were drafted for the government of 
the society. 

Although we date our organization Nov. 1, 1883, the organiza- 



106 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

tion was not completed until Dec. 6, when a full list of offlcera was 
elected and a general committee to manage the affairs of the so- 
dety. According to a resolution passed at the meeting of Dec. 17, 
the following-named persons were declared the founders of the 
society: Marcus Baker, J. J. Warner, A. F. Coronel, J. G. Dow- 
ney, N. Levering J. M. Guinn, John Mansfield, John B. Niles, 
George Butler Griffin, Edwin Baxter, George Hansen, E. W. 
Jones, Volney E. Howard, Isaac Kinley, A. Kohler, Ira Moore, O. 
N. Wilson, J. P. Widney, J. Q. A. Stanley, Horatio N. Rust, J. W. 
Redway, A. J. Bradfleld. The founders numbered twenty-two. 
The society as first organized led a sort of dual existence. There 
was the society proper at the meetings, of which papers were 
read and discussions held; then there was a general committee 
composed of the seven officers and ten elected members, which 
transacted all the business and elected new members. 

The general public was not invited to attend our meetings. If 
an outsider wished to enter the arena where we wrestled with his- 
tory and science, he had to make a written application to the sec- 
retary. The application was then submitted to the General CJom-* 
mittee. That august ^body in solemn conclave decided whether 
the applicant was a fit subject to enter the sanctum sanctorum 
of our Historical Society. The by-laws or rules that provided for 
this arrangement were copied from those of the Philosophical So- 
ciety of Washington, D. C. They proved altogether too aristo- 
cratic and exclusive for our western ideas of equality. The gen- 
eral public let us severely alone. A new code of by-laws was 
adopted in 1886, doing away with the General Committee and 
throwing our doors open to any one who might wish to enter. 

The growth of the society at first was rapid. At the end of the 
first six months we had enrolled fifty members. There was a rush 
to get in on the ground floor — to be first. It was something new 
and it took with that class who are always sighing for something 
new; 

"Still sighs the world for something new. 

For something new; 
Imploring me — imploring you 

Some Will-o-wisp to help pursue; 
Oh, hapless wurld, what will it do! 

Imploring me — imploring you, 
For something new." 



FIFTEEN YEARS OF LOCAL HISTORY ^ORK 107 

The newness wore off and then the reaction came. B^ore the close 
of the first year of the society's existence we could not get out a quo- 
rum. The minutes show the October, November and December meet- 
ings of 1884 adjourned for want of a quorum. Then the old wheel 
horses of the organization buckled down to work and pulled the so- 
ciety out of the slough of despond, and I might add they have been 
pulling at it ever since. 

During the fifteen years of its existence 185 persons have been re- 
ceived into membership. Of these 28 are dead, about 60 have lost 
their membership through being dropped for non-payment of dues 
and by vountary withdrawal, leaving at the present time a nominal 
membership of nearly one hundred. 

We have issued 14 annual publications of papers, read before the 
society. These make over 1100 octavo pages, and form three com- 
plete volumes of valuable history, and (including the present issue) 
parts 1 and 2 of volume IV. We have collected during the past fif- 
teen years and expended in the publication of our annual, and in the 
purchase of books and newspaper files, nearly |2500 in cash. 

In addition to this, we have received in donations of books, curios, 
files of papers and periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, maps, etc,, 
historical material worth at least fSOOO. 

Had we been able ten or twelve years ago to have secured fire- 
proof rooms, centrally located and nicely fitted up, our collection by 
donations would doubtless ere this have been worth from ten thou- 
sand to twenty thousand dollars. 

Our society ha« been somewhat of a tramp in regard to a local 
habitation. Its first meetings were held in a room on the second fioor 
of old Temple Block, comer of Main and Market streets. From there 
it moved to a room on the second fioor of the Nadeau Block, fronting 
on First street, and occupied by Justice Morgan as a courtroom. The 
Nadeau was just completed and, being too large a hotel for the size 
of the town, a portion of it was fitted up for offices, a courtroom, and 
a hall for the T.M.G.A. After remaining there to June, 1884, the so- 
ciety wandered away out to the State Normal School on Fifth street, 
which in those days waa well out in the suburbs; but it soon got 
lonesome there and came back to the Nadeau, where it remained till 
1886, when it took up its lodgings in the Council Chamber of the old 
City Hall on Second street 



110 HISTORICAL 80CIBTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

Straggling old adobe at the comer of North Spring and Franklin 

streets, where the Phillips Block now stands. The old house had 
been built for a dwelling by Antonio Rocha away back about 1825. It 
was demolished about 1885, aged 60 years. In the rear of it was the 
city and county jail, inclosed by a board fence 15 feet high. Fifty 
teachers were then sufficient to dispense mental pabulum to the 
school children of the city — now it requires the services of 500. The 
Los Angeles High School was then the only high school in Southern 
California; now there are eight in this county alona The contrast in 
the conditions existing in the country districts then compared with 
the present were as marked as in the city. The city of Pasadena, 
with its palatial private residences, its massive business blocks and 
paved streets, had no existence. It was a colony devoted to orange 
growing. The nucleus of the future city was then a small grocery 
store and blacksmith shop, located at the comer of Colorado street 
and Fair Oaks. The settlement was trying to forget its primitiye 
name — Indiana Colony- It had recently christened itself Pasadena. 
An express wagon carried the few passengers who cared to make the 
journey to Pasadena at the rate of one dollar the round trip. Now 
it can be made for 20 cents. The cities of New San Pedro, Bedondo 
and Long Beach had neither a local habitation nor a name. The 
site of Monrovia was a cattle range, and Alhambra a sheep pasture. 
Fifteen years is but little more than one-fifth of the allotted three 
score and ten of a human life, and but a fleeting moment in the life 
of a city or a nation, and yet behold what history our city and 
county have made in that time! 

How often have we, the workers of our society, when we have 
asked some intelligent and public-spirited citizen to join our ranks 
and aid us in our work, been answered thus: ''Oh, I have not been 
here long enough to know much about the history of the city or 
county," and yet that same person, although his residence here may 
reach back less than a decade, has lived, and is living, in the most 
eventful years of our city's history. It is certainly fully as import- 
ant to preserve the history we are making every day as it is to col- 
lect that which was made long since by our predecessors. 



HUGO REID AND HIS INDIAN WIFE 

BY LAURA EVERTSON KING, 

(Read March 7, 1898.) 

Id Thompson & West's History of Los Angeles County we find the 
following short sketch of Mr. Reid: 

<^ago Reid, a native of Scotland, came to Los Angeles in 1831, 
and was a merchant there in company with Wm. Keith and Jacob 
P. I^aese. He had formerly resided in New Mexico, and disappoint- 
ment in a love affair while there is supposed to have sour^ him 
He is said to have been very eccentric, and finally retired to San 
Gabriel, where he married an Indian woman, and i1*ivoted himself 
to the study of the aborigines. He has left to posterity some very 
valuable essays on the language, history, customs, and legends of 
the Cahuilla Indians, which we have made use of in preparing our 
chapter on "The Aborigines." He at one time owned the Santa 
Anita Ranch, and also a large part of the property subsequently 
acquired by Mr. B. D. Wilson, and now held by that gentleman's 
widow, and by his son-inlaw, J. de Barth Shorb, Esq. Mr. Reid died 
at Los Angeles, December 12, 1852." 

There are some corrections to be made in the foregoing sketch 
of his life. If my memory does not play me false, he was not eccen- 
trie, unless his marriage with an Indian woman could have been 
cousidered an eccentricity. He might have "gone farther and 
fared worse," as she was a noble woman in many respects, but be- 
ing an Indian, her noblest characteristics were left to be discov- 
ered by those who loved her and who knew her best. It was 
through her that he acquired his wealth, and through her he was 
enabled to write his essays on the life and customs of the Indians 
of the San Gabriel Valley. His wife, "Dofia Victoria," as everyone 
knew her, owned the Santa Anita Rancho; also the property now 
known as Lake Vineyards, bought by Mr. B. D. Wilson. My recol- 
lection of Mr. Hugo Reid is that he was a quiet, unassuming gentle- 
man of literary tastes. 

It was in the old garret of his house that I saw my first Eng- 
lish periodicals. Seated on the floor, with London Punches strewn 



112 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

around the great, rough-hewn beams overhead, strung with ropcB 

of *Tii5ones*' and "Coras" filled with dried fruit, I whiled away the 

long spring afternoon, regardless of the outside world until aroused 
from my books by Dofia Victoria calling me to come down from 
among the spiders and sup with her. Descending I would find her 
seated on the ground just outside the corridor of the house, direct- 
ing her Indian servant to make "tortillas." Seated before a small 
fire, dressed in a costly gown of black satin, with an embroidered 
shawl of crepe around her shapely shoulders, daintily taking the 
broiled beef in her fingers, she would give me a lesson in Indian 
etiquette. Not all the dainty dishes of a king's banquet could 
equal the unforgotten flavor of that simple supper. While eating 
she would tell me stories, and give me rules for social life, the prin- 
ciples of which might well be enigrafted among the rules of social 

life today. 

Losing her only daughter a year before, and I coming upon the 
scene after her death, the first white child in her world, doubly en- 
deared me to her. Generous to a fault, she would have loaded me 
with her daughter's jewelry, and if I did not come to visit her ev- 
ery day she would send her servant to see what kept me from her. 

Then Mr. Beid educated their son and daughter in Engliidi, 
Spanish and French. She considered it time thrown away. With 
mind like a child and manners like a queen, she deemed it a waste 
of life to learn from books what she had already learned from na- 
ture. She always said that her possessions were more than her hus- 
band's, and she knew nothing about letters. That study had killed 
her daughter, she was firmly convinced, and so I was never allowed 
to remain in peace among the books. Mr. Beid made frequent vis- 
its to far-away countries, sometimes to China and the Sandwich 
Islands, bringing home fine and beautiful things, strings of pearls, 
diamonds, silks, embroidered shawls and sweets from foreign 
places. His literary tastes were seen in the quantity and quality 
of his books, and you have all read his papers on the Indians in the 
Los Angeles Star. I have played many times in my childhood days 
on the soap works described by him, and gathered many bunches 
of grapes from the vineyards around the Mission San Gabriel. Mr. 
Beid built his house of adobe, with walls four feet thick and clap- 
boardh' hauled from San Bernardino covered the roof. But Dofia 



HUGO REID AND HI8 INDUN WIFB 113 

Victoria never climbed the stairs, dread of earthquakes always 
kept her on the ground floor. Two things she held in dread — 
horses and a carriage, and an earthquake. A ^^carta" was safe, and 
oxen never ran away, was a firm conviction with her. In one in- 
stance she was correct, in 1855 her house was ruined by an earth- 
quake. And on a bright spring day, as we were crawling along 
over the road to Los Angeles in her "carreta" her "bueys," (oxen) 
feeling spring in the air, put springs to their heels, and gamboled 
indiscreetly and indiscriminately over the undulating plains to the 
disquiet and disgust of the naked Indian driver, who was left far in 
the rear. Thus she lived to see one of her convictions, as well as 
the rest of us upset. Mr. Beid's fine library was scattered after 
his death, the greater portion came into the possession of J. Lan- 
caster Brent. The guardian he had selected for his wife proved 
dishonest and she was robbed of her fortune, even her personal 
ornaments were taken from her. I saw her for the last time in 
1863, when attended by one faithful servant she came to see her 
'Talita" (as she always called me.) Instead of her satins and silk 
she wore a dress of common print, and a quilt covered her shoul- 
ders in place of her crepe shawl. But she was the same grand, 
prond, cheerful woman. She would accept no favors, only wanted 
to see and embrace me once more. I never saw her again. She 
fell a victim of that dreaded disease, smallpox. And so passed from 
my life one upon whom could be written pages of praise for the 
grandest and most self-sacrificing life I ever knew. 



THE STORY OF A NATIVE CALIFORNIAN 

BY H. D. BARROWS. 

(Read Nov. 7, 1898.) 

There is living in this city a native Califomian now in his 84th 
year, and still hale and hearty, whom I have known since 1855, or for 
more than 40 years. Last year (1897) I took down for the Historical 
Society some of his recollections of the olden time, together with a 
ft'w items of personal history, which I herewith present for preserva- 
tion in the archives of our society: 

Ramon Valenzuela, whose present residence is on Seventh street, 
near the historical Coronel homestead, was born at the Mission San 
Gabriel, August 31, 1815. His father was Don Caspar Valenzuela, a 
native of Santa Barbara, and his mother's name before marria«^ was 
Maria Ygnacia Lopez; she was a daughter of Claudio Ijopez, for 
many years principal manager or mayordomo of the then immense 
missionary establishment of San Gabriel, and right-hand man of 
Fathers Sanchez and Salvadea. This Claudio Lopez was a very <:apa- 
ble man, and he was entrusted with the general management of the 
various ranchos that were in those days subject to the San Gabriel 
Mission, including San Bernardino, Ucaipe, El Chino, Snn Jose, Co- 
camonga, Santa Anita, Rosa de Cast ilia, San Pasqaal, etc. 

Don Ramon, the subject of this sketch, who lived during his boy- 
hood at the Mission, remembers well his grandfather Lopez, and that, 
as a boy, he used often to go around with him in the vineyards and 
orchards of the mission, which were extensive- He says his grand- 
father planted the orange orchard south of the church, which is still 
in existence and is still, I believe, productive; as well- as the large 
vineyards that flourished in the time of Father Sanchez, but which 
since have died out; also the "Tuna'' (prickly-pear) hedges, portions 
of which still exist. Large areas of land were cultivated in grain and 
other crops each year during his long administration of the temporal 
affairs of the mission. Great numbers of Indians were then under 
the control of the Friars; and they were made to work in all manner 



THE STORY OF A NATIVE CALIFORMIAN 115 

of nseful occapatioDB. Of these laborers Don Claudlo had general 
charge, as well as of the capacious adobe warehouses at the mission, 
which weire the scenes of a busy life, but which, like the actors — 
overseers and laborers — have entirely disappeared; indeed, to the 
greater portion of the present generation they are as if they had 
never existed. 

Don Ramon says that they used to slaughter some twelve or fif- 
teen bullocks each Saturday to feed the Indian laborers of the mis- 
sion alone, besides those killed at the several ranchos. 

The plains at that period were covered with cattle, horses, sheep, 
goats, swine, etc., i.e. con ganado mayor y m<^nor. 

The various industries carried on at the mission at that period 
were the making of saddles, fabrics of wool, such as coarse blankets, 
stuffs to clothe the Indians, etc., and the manufacturing of wine, 
brandy, oil, soap, blacksmithing, etc. Near the mission there was a 
large ^^Jaboneria," where whole hogs were dressed and tried out for 
conversion into soap. 

Don Gaspar, father of Ramon, was a soldier from San Diego, sta- 
tioned with the small force of eight men and a sergeant at San Ga- 
briel, where he married a daughter of Claudio Lopez. Of the eleven 
children of Gaspar, five are still living, namely: Ramon, in this city, 
and Jose Tgnacio at La Ballona; Maria, married to Pedro Ybarra; 
Est^fana, widow of Jos^ Sepulveda of San Jos^; Cesaria, widow, first 
of Ygnacio Aguilar and second of Lorenzana of this city. 

Ramon, the subject of this sketch, was married to Asencion Ser- 
rano, by Father Tomas Est^nega, in 1840, at San Gabriel Mission. 
To them 14 children were born, of whom 5 sons and 4 daughters are 

still living, mostly in Los Angeles. 

In 1828 Don Gaspar, father of Ramon, after many years of faith- 
ful service at the mission, was discharged from military service, and 
came to the Pueblo as a citizen, and was granted a lot on the east 
side of San Pedro street, northeast comer of what is now Fifth street, 
where he planted a vineyard and orchard, and where he lived till his 
death, which occurred in 1849. 

Clandio Lopez (Ramon Valenzuela's maternal grandfather) while 
still mayordomo at the mission, had commenced planting an orchard 
and vineyard in the Pueblo on the west side of San Pedro street, op- 
posite the place of his son-in-law, Gaspar, and between the huertas 



116 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHEBN CALIFORNIA 

of Eugenio Val^ez on the north and of Encarnacion Urqnides on the 
south. Other early settlers on the east side of San Pedro street and 
north of Ga«par's place, were Guillermo Cota and Antonio Maria 
Lugo. What was the vineyard of the latter is now crossed by Sec- 
ond street, and his residence was the long adobe building, still stand- 
ing, north of the present home of his granddaughter, Mrs. Wood- 
worth. 

Mrs. Valenzuela, wife of Ramon, who still enjoys excellent health, 
was born at San Gabriel in 1827. Her father wa« Tomas Serrano, a 
ranchero, and her mother's maiden name was Nicolasa Navaja. 

When Don Pio Pico took possession of San Luis Bey, he placed 
Serrano in charge as mayordomo, and later Serrano was appointed 
as administrator of the rancho of Santa Margarita. 

When Don Ramon and his prospective bride were about to be 
u*arried. Father Tomas Est^nega, who was to solemnize the nuptials, 
remarked her youthfulness, and concluded that before performing 
the ceremony, he would consult the record of the date of her bap- 
tism, and he found that she was just 13 years 3 months and 3 days 
old. But Ramon says her parents thought well of him, etc., and so 
consented to her marriage thus early. 

Though Ramon Valenzuela is past the age of four score years, his 
memory of past events continues unimpaired. His remembrances 
of the part he took in military actions pending the change of gov- 
ernment are very vivid- He was a cavalryman at the Domingues 
rancho affair, where the Galifornians compelled the Americans to re- 
treat with considerable loss. Jos^ Antonio Garrillo was command- 
ante of the Galifornians, about 60 in number, who were mounted but 
without arms, except the small cannon known as the *^old woman's 
gun." But as the Americans had no cannon, they were comi>el)ed 
in self-defense to maneuver in solid column, which enabled the Gali- 
fornians to draw up their cannon by means of their riatas hitched to 
the horns of their saddles, fire into a campact mass of infantry at 
comparatively close range, with deadly effect, and then turn and 
ride rapidly to the rear, where, out of range, they could load again, 
and so repeat the operation indefinitely, without serious loss on their 
side. The Americans were forced to withdraw, carrying their dead 
with them, which they buried on ''Dead Man's Island." And sv 
ended that incident. 



THE 8IOBY OF A NATIVE GAUFOBNIAN 117 

Afterwards Valenzuela went with the force commanded by Qen. 
Andres Pico to San Diego, and engaged the Americans at San Pas 
qual, the Californians at this time being armed with lances and 
nataSy which California horsemen always carried when mounted. 
The Californians captured one cannon from the Americans at San 
Pasqual. From thence the Californians retired to San Bernardino, 
and then to San Bartolo, where the final action of the war took place. 

The Californians did not possess the resources or arms to enable 
them to contend with any hope of success against the Americans. 

Later, Col. Fremont and Gen. Pico made a treaty of peace, known 
as the "Treaty of Cahuenga," thus ending the war. 

Valenzuela says that the failure to prevent the passage by the 
Americans of the San Gabriel River at the Pass of San Bartolo, 
made it clear to the Californians that a further struggle was abso- 
lutely hopeless, so he, with others, came to town and gave up the 
contest. 

After California became a permanent portion of the United States 
the native Californians, inheritors of Spanish civilization, adjusted 
themselves, as best they could, to the new regime, i.e., to American 
ways, manners and customs, to American laws; in short, to Amer- 
ican domination. In this difficult transition a portion of the native 
Californians were fortunate in having one or more American friends 
whom they could look to for counsel, while others trusted false 
friends to their undoing. 

Of the former class of Americans — too rarely few in numbers — 
William Wolfskill and Benjamin D. Wilson, the pioneers, are two 
notable examples. Speaking from considerable personal knowledge 
and from the uniform' testimony of many native Californians, I think 
t can say with truth that those two — possibly other — noble pioneers 
always and without exception, gave good and honest and disinter- 
ested advice to the paisanos, i.e., to the Spanish-speaking people of 
the country, whenever the latter came to them asking for counsel, 
under the new order of things. Ramon Valenzuela's admiration, 
even veneration, for Mr. Wolfskill — for "Don Guillermo," as he was 
known by all the Californians — was unbounded. He and Mr. Wolf- 
skill were for many years, both before and after the change of gov- 
ernment, near neighbors and near friends. And, knowing Mr. Wolf- 
skill intimately, as I did, it afforded me pleasure to hear Sefior 



118 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CAUFORNIA 

Valensnela, now a venerable octogenarian, say, when I was taking 
down these notes, that '^Don Ooillermo" Wolfskill had been like a 
father to him. 

And so I have often heard the older native Calif omians uniformly 
speak with warm affection of '^Don Benito" Wilson, whose friendship 
for them and for their race had ever been so disinterested and so 
honorable. 

The Galifomians, as well as the Americans, who took part in the 
stirring events connected with the change of government, now more 
than half a century ago, will soon all have passed away. 



PACIFIC COAST DISCOVERIES 

BY ALBERT E. YEEEX, A.M. L.L.B. 
(Read Oct. 7, 1898.) 

The Cartographical History of the Pacific Coast of North Amer- 
ica is one of vague, shadowy and unstable surmise of long duration. 

The views of Columbus and his cotemporaries are best shown in 
what are known as the Ija Cosa map and the Ruisch map, which 
simply delineate very inaccurately a few of the West Indian Isl- 
ands, a part of the Oulf of Mexico, Florida and the coast line a few 
hundred miles northward. These maps prevented for a long time 
after the coming of the Europeans the possibility of the very ex- 
istence of a Pacific Coast; and I might add, thai the Asiatic theory 
of the new-found lands was maintained with more or less modifi- 
cation for a full century after Columbus. In many of the earliest 
maps the Pacific Coast was avoided by cutting off the western ex- 
tention of the new continent by the edge of the sheet, but the con- 
fession of an Asiatic belief was still made sometimes in other 
ways, as when in a certain Portuguese map made between 1616 and 
1520 showing Mahometan flags on the coasts of Venezuela and 
Nicaragua. This map is now being preserved in the Royal Library 
at Munich. In 1626 a rare book of the Monk Franciscus contained 
a map which represented South America as a huge island, dis- 
joined from the Asiatic Coast by a strait in the neighborhood of 
Tehuantepec which as you know is located a little north of the 
boundary line between Mexico and Guatemala, with the legend '%oo 
orbus hemisphaerium cedit regi Hispaniae" (New Spain extends to 
this place.) A few years later we find two other maps showing this 
Asiatic connection, one of which, the Orontius Finaeus Olobe, is 
well known, and is the earliest engraved map showing a return to 
the ideas of Columbus. This map was made in the year 1631, and 
was quite extensively circulated. It is formed on a cordiform or 
heart-shaped projection, and is entitled '^ova et Integra universi 
orbis descriptio/' (a description of the new-found land.) This map 
was published quite extensively up to 1672. In 1633 Francis I., in 



20 HISTORICAL 80CISTT OF SOUTHERN GAUFORlflA 

commissioning Cartier for his exploration, called the Bt. Lawrenoe 
Valley a part of Asia. 

The same view is maintained in a manuscript map of Boocdli, 
the Italian geographer, preserved in the British Mnseom. At this 
time it was generally supposed that North America and Europe 
were united by land. By reference to maps appearing during the 
latter part of the 15th century, Greenland, then known as Bacal- 
laos, was made a prolongation of Northwestern Europe. A map 
called the Carta Marina, published by Qostaldi at Venice in 1543, 
shows most clearly the prevailing theories as to the overland om- 
nection with both Asia and Europe, as well as a designation ot 
geographical and political divisions on this continent. About the 
year 1550 we find the first objection to the Asiatic theory 1^ 
Gostaldi, who only two years earlier made the Carta Marina iiuqp 
above described. In his second map he disjoined the Western 
Coast of America from the Asiatic by a narrow strait. This thtsoiy 
was followed by Roscelli (previously referred to,) in 1561. 

No discoveries, however, had actually been made up to this time 
to guide these latter gentlemen, their statements being purely the- 
oretical. Two maps now preserved at Florence which belonged to 
about the year 1550, show an Asiatic connection, and extend the 
California Coast to the Ganges. The Italian cartographer, Paul 
de Furlani, made a map in 1560, which is preserved in the British 
Museum, and depicts Chinamen and elephants in the region of the 
Mississippi Valley. 

A land connection with Asia is again adhered to by Johannes 
Myritus in a map drawn by him in 1587. In 1590 Livio Sanuto 
loudly disputed the Asiatic theory on the ground that the Mexicans 
would not have shown surprise at horses in Cortes' time if they 
formerly had been inhabitants of a continent like Asia, where 
horses are common. The latest use of the type of map shown in the 
Carta Marina was just a half centruy later, viz., in 1598. The be- 
lief, however, still lingered for many years in some quarters, and 
Thomas Morton, in 1636, showed that in New England it was not 
yei decided whether the continent of America did not border upon 
the country of the Tartars. Indeed, the last trace of this theory 
was not blown away until Behring, in 1728, passed from the Pa- 
cific to the Arctic Sea. 

Such in brief is the history of the inception and decline of the 



PAaFIC 00A8T DI800VEBIKS 121 

belief in the prolongation of Asia over against this Western Coast. 
Andy as has been suspected by geographers at intervals since the 
time of Erastosthenes, third century, B .C, who accepted the spher- 
ical theory and had advanced the identical notion which nearly 
1700 years later impelled Columbus to his voyage. The beginning 
of the decline of such belief is traced to the movements of Cortes. 
Balboa in 1513 by his discovery of the South Sea, later to be called 
the Pacific Ocean, which name was given to it by Magellan in 1520, 
had established the continental form of South America, whose lim- 
its southward were fixed by Magellan, but it was left for Cortes to 
It may be interesting to note right here that the Portuguese had 
pushed on eastward beyond the great peninsula of India and had 
reached the Moluccas in 1511, where they satisfied themselves 
begin the exploration to the North which Behring consummated, 
there was a long space intervening yet before they would confront 
the Spaniards pursuing their westerly route. The voyage of Mu 
gellan, as we shall see, seems to bring the solution near, and if we 
may believe Scotto, the Oanoese geographer, at about the same 
date^ 1520, the Portuguese had crossed the Pacific easterly and 
struck our Northwest Coast. A new understanding between the 
rival crowns of Spain and Portugal closed the question rather ab- 
ruptly through a sale in 1529 by Spain to Portugal of all her rights 
to the Moluccas for 350,000 ducats; this was known as the treaty 
of Saragossa. Cortes on his return from Spain, in 1530, resolved 
to push his discoveries up the coast. The Spaniards now occupied 
Theuantepec, Acapulco and Zacatula on the sea, and Spaniards 
were also to be found at Caliacan, just within the Oulf of Cali- 
fornia on its eastern shore. Up to this time the Spaniards had not 
succeeded in developing the coast farther north than the Gulf of 
California; and here Cortes' discoveries on the Pacific Coast ends; 
for Mendoza, the newly-appointed Viceroy, had visions of his own, 
and thwarted him in all his subsequent attempts, till finally Cortes 
himself went to Spain. The name which Cortes Captains gave to 
the gulf, ''the Sea of Cortes," failed to abide. It grew to be gen- 
erally called the ''Bed Sea," out of some fancied resemblance to the 
Bed Sea of the Old World. This appellation was supplanted in 
turn by the name of California, which it is contended, was given to 
the peninsula by Cortes himself. The origin of the name, however, 
has been a cause of dispute. Prof. Jules MJEurcou claims that it was 



122 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFOBNIA 

simply a deeignation used by Cortes to distinguish a land which 
we now know to be the hottest in the two Americas, Tierra Califor- 

nia, derived from Galida Forna, meaning ''fiery furnace." Bancroft 

points out a variety of equivalent derivations. 

Edward E. Hale, in 1862, traced the name to a romance published 
it is supposed, in 1510, which might easily enough have been a pop- 
ular book with the Spanish followers of Cortes. In this romance a 
certain Emperor of the Greeks defends Constantinople against the 
infidels of the East. A pagan Queen of Amazons brings an army 
of Amazons to the succor of the infidels. This imaginary Queen is 
named Calafia, and her kingdom is called California, a name possi- 
bly derived from Calif, which to the readers of such a book would 
be associated with the East. California in the romance is repre- 
sented as an island rich with gold and diamonds and pearls. That 
this name as an omen of wealth struck the fancy of Cortes is the 
theory of Dr. Hale, who adds ''that as a western pioneer now gives 
the name of Eden to his new home, so Cortes called his new dis- 
covery California." It was not until 1542 that an effort was made 
to reach farther north than what is now Lower California. At this 
time Cabrillo, a Portuguese in the Spanish servica explored the 

coast as far as 44 degrees north, which would take us to about the 
boundary line between Washington and Oregon. Thus from the 
time Balboa discovered the Pacific the Spanish had taken 30 years 
to develop the coast northerly to the latitude of Oregon. In this 
distance they had found nothing of the Straits of Anian, which, if 
Humbolt is correct, had begun to take form in people's minds ever 
since Cortoreal in 1500 had supposed Hudson's Straits to be the 
easterly entrance of a westerly passage. The earliest maps up to 
as late a date as 1757 showed California to be an island. 

Companius, in speaking of California, reonarked about 1694, that 
it is the largest island which the Spaniards possess in America. 
And it was not until 1750 that California was at last defined in its 
real geographical relations. The lingering suspicion of the north- 
erly connection of the California Gulf with the ocean had now 
nearly vanished; and the peninsula which had been an island under 
Cortes, then for nearly a century connected with the main land, 
and then again for more than a century in many minds an island 



PACIFIC COAST DISCOVERIES 128 

again, was at last defined as we now know it. The coast line, how- 
ever, long remained shadowy in a higher latitude. 

EARLIEST MAPS AND CONSECUTIVE DATES. 

La Cosa, year 1500; Buysch, 1508; The Pacific, 1613; Homen, 1540; 
Caf^tilles, 1541; Cabot, 1544; Carta Marina, 1548; Ptolemy, 1548; 
Martines, 1555 — ^the first to give complete outline of coast; Paule 
de Furlani, 1574; Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 1576. 

Sir Francis Drake visited the Coast, including Oregon, as early 
as 1579, and claimed the country for England under the name of 
New Albion. 



SOME FAMOUS GOLD RUSHES 

BY J. M. GUINN. 
(Bead Apr» 4, 1898.) 

Mining rashes are eccentric, erratic and epidemic. They break 
oat in anlikely places when least exj^ected, become contagioaSy then 
disappear as saddenly as they came. 

In the Klondike excitement the old-time ''gold rash" has come 
again. It is more than a third of a centary since we had a genuine 
epidemic gold rash. The gold fever of early California days was 
popularly supposed to be one of the lost epidemics. But an old- 
time rush is on, and symptoms of gold fever are prevalent even 
among Silver Bepublicans. 

Host of the old-time miners who were wont to rush on the first 
rumor of a rich strike in some new region have passed over the di- 
vide to — ^''The undiscovered country from whose boom no traveler 
returns" — and no prospector either. The few of the old rushers 
who remain this side of the divide, broken in health or borne down 
with the infirmities of age are no longer able to rush; but the rumor 
of a rich strike still stirs the blood in their veins and *ach pathet- 
ically sighs ''Oh, if I were only young again, I would go too." 

The gold rush came early in the history of California placer min- 
ing. Bome were fakes, pure and simple, others were the direct 
causes of opening up extensive gold fields that added immensely to 
the world's store of the precious metal. It is not of the fakes that 
I write. The stories of the quests for the "Lost Cabin," the *'Ccment 
Lode^" the "wagon-tire diggings" and the many other igues fatui 
that lured honest miners over moantains and deserts are interesting 
but do not pertain to the subject of this paper. Klondike is not a 
fake, not an illusion, but many a rush with as substantial a base as 
Klondike ended as the Klondike rush will end, in disappointment 
to the many and fortunes to a very few. 

One of the earliest of California mining rushes was the Clold 
Bluff excitement. On the Northwest Coast of California, near the 



SOMS FAMOUS GOLD RUSHES 126 

month of the Klamath Biver, precipitons bluffs, 400 feet high, mark 
the coast line of the ocean. A party of prospectors in the fall of 
1850y who had been up in the Del Norte country, were making their 
way down to the little trading and trapping station of Trinidad to 
procure provisions. On reaching the Bluffs, thirty miles above Trin- 
idad, they were astonished to And stretching out before them a 
beach glittering with golden sands. They could not stop to gather 
gold; they were starving. So, scraping up a few handfuls of the 
glittering sands they hastened on. In due time they reached Ban 
Francisco, where they exhibited their sand, which proved to be 
nearly half gold. The excitement began. Companies were formed 
and claims located at long range. One company of nine locators 
sent an expert to examine their claims. He, by a careful mathe- 
matical calculation, ascertained that the claim would yield forty- 
three million dollars to each partner. As there was 16 miles of 
gold beach, the amount of gold in the sands was sufficient to de- 
monetize the precious metal. A laudable desire to benefit the hu- 
man race possessed some of the claim owners. They formed a joint 
stock company, with shares at |100 each. This was the first of tiiose 
Joint stock schemes for dividing profits of mining ventures that be- 
came so common later on in California, and are today very popular 
in the Klondike craze — schemes that usually end in dividing the 
shoreholders' money among the projectors of the swindle. Qold 
Bluff mining stock went off like the proverbial hot cakes, and profi- 
pectors went off as rapidly. Within two days after the expert^s 
wonderful story was spread abroad nine ships were fitted out for 
Gold Bluff. The first to arrive off the Bluffs was the vessel contain- 
ing a party of the original discoverers. In attempting to land in a 
boat, the boat was upset in the breakers and five of the six occu- 
pants drowned, Bertram, the leader of the party making the dis- 
covery, alone escaping. The vessel put back to Trinidad and the 
gold hunters made their way up the coast to the Bluffs. But alas! for 

their golden dreams. Where they had hoped to gather gold by the 
shipload no gold was to be seen. Old ocean had gathered it back 

to his treasure vaults. 

The bubble burst as suddenly as it had expanded. And yet there 
was gold at Gold Bluffs, and there is gold there yet. If the ocean 
could be drained or coffer-dammed for two hundred miles along the 
gold coast of Northern California and Oregon all the wealth of 



196 HISTORICAL BOCDBTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

Klondike would be bnt the panniiig out of a prospect hole compared 
to the richness that lies hidden in the sands off Oold Beach. For 
years after the bursting of the Gold Bluff bubble, when the tide was 
low the sands along Gk>Id Beach were mined with profit. 

The Kern River excitement in the spring of 1855 surpassed every- 
tliing that had preceded it. Seven years of mining had skimmed the 
richness of the placers. The northern and central gold fields of 
Galiforxua had been thoroughly prospected. The miners who had 
been accustomed to the rich strikes of early years could not content 
tl^emsedvcs with moderate returns. They were ready for a rusbL. 
The first discoveries on the Kern Biver were made in the summer 
of 1854, but no excitement followed the first reports. But during 
the fall and winter rumors were set afioat of rich strikes on the 
headwaters of that stream. The stories grew as they traveled on. 
One that had a wide circulation and was readily accepted ran about 
aa follows: A Mexican doctor had appeared in Mariposa loaded 
down with nuggets. He reported that he and four companions had 
found a region paved with gold. The very hills were yellow with 
ontcroppings. While gloating over such wealth and loading it into 
sacks the Indians attacked them and killed his four companiona. 
He escaped with one sack of gold. He proposed to organize a com- 
pany large enough to exterminate the Indians and then bring out 
the gold on pack mules. 

ThiSy as well as other stories, equally as imi»*obable, were spread 
broadcast throughout the State. Many of the reports of wonderful 
strikes were purposely magnified by merchants and dealers in min- 
ers' supplies who were overstocked with unsalable goods; and by 
transportation companies with whom business was slack. Their 
purpose was acomplished and the rush was on. It was the first 
rush that had profited Los Angeles. It came at an opportune time 
for the town. It was hard times in the old pueblo; business was dull 
and money scarce. The Southern Californian of December 24, 1854, 
says: ''The great scarcity of money is seen in the present exorbi- 
tant rates of interest which it commands, 8, 10 and even 15 per cent, 
a month is freely paid, and the supply even at these rates is too 
meager to meet the demand.^' Think of it^ 180 per cent, a year for 
the use of money, and the crime of '73 had not then been committed. 
(Bimetallism was in full force and effect and the dollar of the dad- 
dies current coin of the realm.) In January the rush began. It 



SOMS FAMOUS GOLD BUSHES 127 

strack the old pueblo like a cyclone. Every steamer down the 
coaat was loaded to the guards with adventurers for the mines. The 
sleepy old metropolis of the cow counties found itself suddenly 
transformed into a bustling mining camp. The Southern Californlan 
of Feb. 8, 1855, thus describes the situation. 'The road from our 
vaHey is literally thronged with people on their way to the mines. 
Hundreds of people have been leaving not only the city, but every 
portion of the county. Every description of vehicle and animal 
have been brought into requisition to take the exultant seekers 
after wealth to the goal of their hopes. Immense ten-mule wagons 
stroAg out one after another; long trains of pack mules and men 
moonted and on foot, wifh picks and shovels; boarding-house keep- 
ers with their tents; merchants with their stocks of miners' necessa- 
ries and gamblers with their ^'papers" are constantly leaving for 
the Kern Biver mines. The wildest stories are afloat. We do not 
place implicit reliance, however, upon these stories. If the mines 
torn out ten dollars a day to the man everybody ought to be satis- 
fled. The opening of these mines has been a godsend to all of us, 
as the business of the entire country was on the point of taking to 
a tree." As the boom increased our editor grows more jubilant. In 
his issue of March 7th he throws out these headlines: 

''Stop the Press! Olorious News from Kern Biver! Bring out the 
Big Oun! There are a thousand gulches rich with gold and room for 
ten thousand miners. Miners averaging |50 a day. One man with 
his own hands took out |160 in a day. Five men in ten days took 
out $4500." 

Another stream of miners and adventurers was pouring into the 
mines by way of the San Joaquin Valley. From Stockton to Kern 
Biver, a distance of 300 miles, the road was crowded with men on 
foot, on stages, on horseback and on every form of conveyance that 
would take them to the new El Dorado. In four months flve or six 
thousand men had found their way into the Kern Biver Valley. 
There was gold there, but not enough to go round. A few struck it 
rich, the many struck nothing but "hard luck," and the rush out be- 
gan. ThoBe who had ridden into the valley footed it out and those 
who footed it in on sole leather footed it out on their natural soles 
or depended on sackcloth or charity. Seven years have passed since 
the first discovery of gold in California, and in that time the grand 
army of goid seekers has swept back and forth from Klamath in the 



128 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

north to Kern in the sooth in search for new gold fields to conqaer, 
while detachments from this army have plodded in t)ie sno^vs of 
British Columbia, have penetrated the jungles of Panama, hare 
sailed down to Peru and climbed the Andes to the head waters of 
the Amazon — ^and the snrviyors of these detachments have rejoined 
the main army rich in experience but poor in everything else. 

After the wild frensy of Kern Bivcr the press of the State con- 
gratolated the public with the assurance that the era of wild rushes 
was past — ^''what had been lost in money had been gained in expe- 
rience." As if a prospector ever profited by exi)erinee. Scarcely 
had the victims of Kern Biver resumed work in the old creeks and 
canons they had deserted when a rumor comes, faint at first, but 
gathering strength at each repetition, that rich diggings have been 
struck in the far North. This time it is Prazer River. True, Praaer 
Biver is in British Columbia, but what of that! There are enouf^h 
miners in California to seize the country and hold it until the cream 
of the mines has been skimmed. Bumors of the richness of the 
mines increased with every arrival of a steamer from the north. 
Captains, pursers, mates, cooks and waiters confirmed the stories of 
rich strikes. Doubters asserted that the dust and nuggets exhib- 
ited had made the round trip from San Francisco to Victoria and 
back. But they were silenced by the assurance that the transpor- 
tation company was preparing to double the number of its vessela 
Commodore Wright was too smart to run his steamers on fake re- 
ports. And the very thing that should have caused suspicion was 
used to confirm the truth of the rumors. The doubters doubted no 
more, But packed their outfits for Frazer River. 

California was played out. WTiere could an honest miner pan out 
a hundred dollars a day in California? He could do it every day in 
Frazer — the pai>ers said so. The first notice of the mines was pub- 
lished in March, 1858. The rush began in the latter part of April, 
and in four months thirty thousand men — one-sixth of the voting 
population of the State — had rushed to the mines. 

The effect of the craze was disastrous to business in California. 
Farms were abandoned and crops lost for want of hands to harvest 
them. Rich claims in the old diggings were sold for a trifle of their 
value. Lots on Montgomery street that ten years later were worth 
11500 a front foot, were sold for flOO. Real estate in the interior 
towns was sacrificed at 50 to 75 per cent, less than it was worth 



BOMB FAMOUS GOLD BUBHXB 129 

before the rush began. But a halt was called in the rush. The re- 
turns were not coming in satisfactorily. By the middle of July less 
than a hundred thousand dollars in dust had reached Ban Fran- 
cisco—only f3 for each man who had gone to the diggings. There 
was gold there and plenty of it, so those interested in keeping op 
the excitement said. The Frazer River was high; wait till it sub- 
sides. But it did not subside, and it has not subsided since. It is 
always on a high. If the Frazer did not subside the excitement did, 
and that suddenly. Those who had money or could borrow enough 
from their friends got away at once. Those who had none bung 
around Victoria and New Westminster until they were shipped 
back at the government's expense. 

After Frazer Biver came Washoe; but that was a silver craza 
In its earlier manifestations it was similar to the gold rushes, but 
it soon degenerated into comers, freeze-outs and stock gambling. 
The tragic side of Washoe stock gambling has never been por- 
trayed. The ruined lives, the impoverished homes, the heartaches, 
the wretchedness and the suicides left in the wake of the bonanza 
kings' march to wealth arc subjects upon which no Galifomian cares 
to dwell. No disaster that ever struck the State was so prolific of 
evil as the mania of thirty years ago for gambling in the stocks of 
the Washoe silver mines — a gambling mania that made the fortunes 
of the vulgar silver barons and parvenu bonanza kings of San Fran- 
cisco. The last of the great gold rushes before Klondike began was 
the ''Ho for Idaho" of 1862-'63-'64. This consisted of a series of 
rushes, first to the northern part of the territory in 1861-'62, when 
what is now Idaho was part of Washington. The mining district 
in the north consisted of a number of small camps or basins such 
as Florence, Oro Fino, Miller's, etc., rich while they lasted, but soon 
worked out. The principal rush was to Boise Basin in 1864. The 
lioise mines were what were called ''poor man's diggings." There 
were no big strikes or rich pockets, but instead a considerable ex- 
tent of gold-bearing territory that paid good wages. Those of the 
mining population who settled down to business and kept away from 
gambling dens and whiskey mills usually made a small raise before 
their claims were worked out. The first discovery of gold in Boise 
Basin was made by a party under the leadership of "Old Grimes,'' 
(not, however, the one whose "coat was buttoned down before.'^ 



180 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

OrimoB was killed by the Indians. The suryivors of the party built 

a fort and stood a long siege by the redskins before they made their 

escape. The creek where the first discovery was made was named 

after Grimes and the camp where the fort was built was called 

Hog'em, becanse the first locators tried to ^^og" all the claims on 

the creek; later on it became 'Tioneer City," but no old Boise pio- 
neer ever recognized it by that name. 



NOTES ON THE niSSION SAN GABRIEL 

BY REV. J. ADAM, V.G. 

(Bead Dec. 6, 1898.) 

Among the old books, I have found one that says (translated into 
English:) '^Book in which are entered the most notable things for 
the direction of the Missionary Fathers of this Mission of the 
Archangel St. Oabriel, established on the eighth of September, 1771." 

The book is written by Father Francisco Paloo, bosom friend 
and companion of Very Bev. Father Junipero Serra. He says on 
the first page: '^In September, 1767, all the fathers being gathered 
together in our honse of Santa Cruz of Tepic, who had left the col- 
lege of San Fernando, Mex., to go to the Califomias, and knowing 
ibm great distance that would exist between said missions, and our 
college, we agreed that on the death of one of our number at the 
missions, the others would offer 20 masses for the repose of his 
sool, and it is signed by Father Palou in the Mission of San Gabriel 
on the 9th of October, 1773. The first suffrage was made for Father 
Lus Janme, who was killed by the Indians of San Diego at the com- 
mencement of the mission. Then suffrages were made for Father 
J^lui Ghrisostom Oil and Felipe Ouitlon, both killed by the Apaches. 
We read also the masses of Father Juan Diaz, Franco Oarces, Jo- 
seph Matias Moreno and Juan Bamenecke, who were killed by the 
Indians of the Colorado. 

Masses were also said for the soul of Father Franco Pujol of the 
Mission of Ban Miguel. '^It is suspected," says the writer, <^at 
lie was poisoned." We find the names of 42 missionaries for whom 
requiem masses were said from 1773 to 1803. Among the last we 
And the name of Very Bev. Father Fermin Francisco Lastieu, 
president of these missions (who succeeded Father Palon,) who d*ed 
Jnne 26, 1803, and also of Father Miguel Sancheas, for many years 
missionary at San Oabriel, who died on the 27th of July, 1803. He 
had been a constant sufferer from the asthma. 

On page 11 we read that the Viceroy of New Spain, BUs Excel- 



182 HISTORICAL 80CIXTY OF SOUTHBkN CAUFOBNIA 

lencj, Don Antonio Maria Bocareliy in a decree of Ma/, 1772, ap- 
proyed the withdrawal from Lower California of the Franciscan 
Fathers in favor of the Dominicans, who assumed charge of said 
missions, while the Franciscans took charge of those of Upper Cali- 
fornia. The Viceroy and their superior general in Mexico, required 
each missionary to give a report of the temporal and spiritual state 
of his mission each year. ''It being impossible," says Palou, 'for 
the president of these missions to visit each locality, I therefore 
beg each missionary to send, at the end of the year, said report to 
the president of the missions. For this purpose I require the Bev. 
missionaries of this church and Mission of Ban Oabriel to send ev 
ery year in December all information or exact report of the state of 
their mission, showing the number of baptisms, marriages and 
deaths, and the number of families, and what hopes they have of 
the conversion of the other gentiles of the neighboring ranchos; 
and if there is any obstacle in the way preventing said conversion, 
and that they should express themselves freely, so that the superiors 
may apply the remedy for the evil. They are cautioned in case of 
any grievance not to have recourse to the Royal Judge, but let the 
complaint be presented or forwarded to the Rev. president, who 
acts as judge for these missions; and if recourse must be made to 
the Viceroy, let it be made by the guardian of his council. Father 
Palou requires them also, in this book to report the treasures or 
furniture of church or sacristy, and of their houses; the number of 
cattle, and the number of new buildings erected since the last re- 
port; how many acres of land have been cultivated and with what 
results; and if their crops have failed they should report the 
causes thereof. If anything should happen during the year worth 
noticing, they are directed to include it in the report. The docu- 
ment should be signed by both resident missionaries and one copy 
should be sent to the president, and another retained for safe keep- 
inpc in their archives. This document is signed by Father Palou in 
the Mission of the Archangel St. Gabriel on the 9th of October, 1773. 
On page 12 we find the report given in December of the year 
1773, of the spiritual increase in said Mission of San Gabriel since 
it had been founded in September, 1771, two years before. There 
were in that year 80 Christians, 30 adults and forty-three children. 
There was one marriage, and three children had died. Then it men- 
tions among the sacred vessels, a chalice of silver, a bell of silver. 



NOTES ON THE MISSION SAN OABBIKL 183 

a thimble of silver; also a shell of the same material for baptismal 

purposes, five chosobles, etc. The number of sacred pictures is also 

given. Then the record describes the first church built in what is 
called Mission Vieja— Old Mission — whose ruins can yet be seen on 

the ranch of Mr. Richard Oarvej, about a league distant in a south- 
erly direction from the present mission. 

This primitive church was 45 feet long and 18 feet wide, built of 
logs and covered with tule. There was a sacristy behind the altar. 
Second, a house made also of logs, 45 feet long and 17 feet wide, 
covered also with tule, divided into two rooms, with doors of wood 
Bef>arating them. Third, a storehouse of logs, 36 feet long by 15 
wide, covered also with tule. Fourth, another room, 36 feet long 
by 18 wide, to keep seed and other things, made also of logs and 
covered with mud or adobe. Fifth, another room 15 feet square, of 
lumber, and the room covered with clay or mud, was used for a 
kitchen. All these buildings were inclosed within a palisade 60 
yards square. Besides there were nine small houses of lumber, 
with mud roof, for the neophytes. The inclosure had two gates. 
There was another small frame house in which to keep the com, 
and two other frame houses for the soldiers. Besides there was 
another enclosure or corral for the cattle. Then follows a list of 
wares for the kitchen, for the carpenter shop, and for tilling the 
fields. They began with eighteen yokes of oxen, plows, etc., etc. 
The King gave 18 head of cattle; 2 years after, in October, '73, these 
had increased to 38. They also had 16 saddle horses. They sowed 
that year one bushel and a half of com, which bore 21 bushels (or 
fanegas.) 

On page 17 I find that in the year 1776 (the year the United 
States declared their independence) the mission was moved from 
the old place to the location where we now see it The change was 
made, says the book, because the new place was better adapted for 
a mission. The buildings could not, of course, be moved, so they 
began at once with great seal to erect the needed edifices, at the 
new site. They first built a house of adobe 50 yards long and 6 
yards wide, three and a half yards high, divided into three rooms, 
one for keeping the seeds, another for tools and the third for the 
Fathers to dwell in. They built also a chapel ten varas long by six 
wide, roofed with tule. A corral was erected not far away for the 
cattle. In 1796 the chapel gave way to a larger church, with walls 
ef adobe, 108 feet long by 21 feet wide, with a roof of tiles. 



50MB AFRICAN POLK LORE 

DE. J. D. MOODY. 

Dr. Bilas F. Johnson, a young physician of oar city^ has been 
laboring for several years as a medical missionary in Western Af- 
rica. 

Being now at home on a vacation, I have taken advantage of the 
fact and have si>ent considerable time with him, gathering facts 
about African folk-lore and superstitions. Two of these stories 
which I give, I believe have not before been recorded, at least in 
relation to these people. 

Dr. Johnson's work has been among the Bule tribe, a member of 
the Fan branch of the great Bantu family of Central and South- 
ern Africa. 

Just south of the Sahara Desert is a wide strip of a fertile and 
densely-populated country, stretching clear across the continent. 
The central and eastern portion of this territory is called the Sou- 
dan. The Fan family occupy the southwestern portion of this re- 
gion, and the Bule tribe the extreme western portion of this part, 
near the coast. This lies within German territory, Batanga be- 
ing the seaport for this region. This is about the northern limit 
of the Bantu race. 

Whether there is a migration now going on towards the south 
from the easteam portion of the country, I am unable to say, but 
the Fan branch of this family have been pushing to the west for a 
long time, the outposts being occupied by the Bules. These are 
slowly but surely dispossessing the coast people of their ancestral 
homes. These people, the Bules, in talking about the old times, 
their traditions, which are few and recent, or about their 
Ood, always refer to the East. Some of the old people can remem- 
ber the last station they occupied to the east of their present loca- 
tion. Among all this great Bantu family certain folk-lore is com 
mon proi)erty. Much of it suggests contact with the white race in 
the past, and much of it is of a nature common to themselves and 



BOMB AFRICAN FOLK LORE 185 

all aboriginal peoples. The Bnles have scarcley any history or any 
traditions, but they have an interminable nnmber of folk-lore sto- 
ries haying for their central interest the canning of some animal 
as displayed in its contests with other animals. The tortoise, the leop- 
ard, the python and the monkey family are almost exclnsiyely so 
used. The tortoise is always the wise one. The fables generally 
haye for their climax the oyerreaching conning of this slow crea- 
tora Aesop's fable of the hare and tortoise has a singular interest 

in the light of these stories. 

The people delight in these stories. They wiil gather about a 

log fire at night, or in their palayer house and listen for hours to 

tbedr story teller going oyer his narratiye. These stories haye no 
element of history in them, but are fables pure and simple. The 
reciter will act out the story as he goes along with appropriate ges- 
tures. When the climax is reached the interest is gone and the 
story abruptly ends. 

A fayorite story is that of the leopard and tortoise, and runs in 
this wise: Once upon a time the leopard and the tortoise, being to- 
gether, became yery hungry. The tortoise said to the leopard, ''let 
nB kill our mothers and eat them." The leopard readily agreed to 
this, and they further agreed to get their mothers in the morning 
and kill them and eat them for breakfast. The tortoise that same 
night gathered a basketful of a fruit of that region which contains 
a blood-red juice, and took it to a stream and hid it among the 
bushes on the banks. The next morning they took their mothers 
to this stream. The tortoise proposed to take his mother up stream 
a 'little ways, and that the leopard should take his down stream a 

little ways and then each kill their mother and haye a feast. They 
each took their stations. The tortoise then took a club and 
pounded on a log as hard as he could, then taking his basket of 
fruit, he squeezed the juice into the water, which, running down 
stream, looked like bloody water. The leopard in the meanwhile 
waited before kiKing his mother to see whether the tortoise would 
carry out his part of iJie compact or not. Hearing the pounding 
and seeing the bloody water floating by, he thought the tortoise 
was surely doing his part, so he took a club and killed his 
mother. The tortoise in the meanwhile had sent his mother home 



136 HIBTOBIGAL 80CIBTT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

by a roundabout way, and now went down to the leopard and 
helped him devour his mother. 

In this story the subterfuges of the tortoise are so transparent 
that none but the most childish mind would find any interest in it, 
and it shows something of the childish or childlike workings of the 
savage mind. 

The Bule has no conception of a deity in our sense of Qod, but 
they refer to a being whom they call Zambe, who lives far back in 
the interior. They believe that Zambe made all things, that he has 
all power, that he is a spirit, and yet while referring him to the in- 
terior, that he has no location. They do not think that Zambe has 
any supervision over their daily lives here or in the future state. 
They also believe him to have two sons, who also have all power, 
one living in the interior of Africa and the other in the white man's 
country. The African one catches elephants and gets ivory and 
manufactures articles of commerce and trades them to his brother 
in the white man's country; and he in turn manufactures goods 
and trades them to his African brother. This seems to be their 
idea of the origin of trade. They see that articles, manufactured 
they know not how nor where, pass through their lands. Some one 
being must have been the guiding force in their making, and this 
being they call Zambe. As it is evident to them that there are two 
distinct classes of goods made, they reason that thei'e must have 
been more than one maker, so they take refuge in two sons as the 
respective makers. 

They believe that there is a town of ghosts down under the 
ground — probably from the fact of burial in the ground. They oe- 
lieve that at death they will go to this town and that they will see 
their fathers and all their people there; that they will be living in 
vMlages just as in this life, and that the same moral conditions ex- 
ist there as here. If a spirit does wrong there it will be ^'caused to 
die from there," as they quaintly express it, meaning that it will 
leave this ghost town, and that one of two things will happen to it, 

either it will become a chimpanzee or some such animal, or else go 
to a place the name of which means total extinction. As they ex- 
press it, ^%e is all gone, there is nothing more of him." Then if an 
animal which is a transformed spirit, is killed, it, too, goes to this 
place of extinction. 

Another fable gives their idea of the origin of man's superiority 
to the rest of the animal creation. 



80ME AFRICAN FOLK LOBE 187 

It is as follows: Zambe lived back in the interior of the country. 
One day he called to him man, dwarf — (The Bnle consider the dwarf 
The men will, however, occasionally take a dwarf woman for a 
^\te\ — gorilla, chimpanzee, and monkey. 

Zambe gave to each one one of their large garden baskets, and 
iu each basket he put seeds of various kinds of vegetables and cut- 
tings of food plants, also an ax, a cutlass and fire, and sent them 
forth in the world to start homes for themselves. On parting with 
them he gave such advice as a father would to his sons under sim- 
ilar circumstances. 

They started out along the forest path, probably going towards 
the coast. As they went along the monkey, becoming hungry, 
plucked some berries or nuts from the bushes by the side of the 
path. These tasted so good to him that he dropped his basket with 
its contents, and wandered off into the forest eating what he could 
find. The others in the meantime went on their way. Soon the 
chimpanzee became hungry. Gathering some nuts and eating them, 
he was so well satisfied that he too dropped his basket and went off 
into the forest, while the others went on. The gorilla was the 
next to become hungry, and, seeing some fruit growing on the trees 
near by, plucked and ate it. He too seemed satisfied with this food, 
and, dropping his basket, wandered off into the forest. 

The dwarf saw some bees going into a hole in a tree. He climbed 
the tree, got the honey and ate it. The taste of it pleased him so 
well that, looking around and seeing a snail on a tree, knocked it 

off and ate it also. 

(There is a species of land snail in that country, as large as a 
small plate, which, instead of living in its shell, carries a small 
conical spiral shell on its back. These snails attach themselves to 
trees and the natives knock them off and eat them. They make im- 
plements out of the shells.) 

He was so pleased with these foods that he stopped by the side 
of the path, took the coals of fire out of his basket and kindled a 
fire. Then holding the shell in the fire the fiesh was easily detached. 
He then rolled it up tightly in a ^leaf, and after roasting it in the 
fire, ate it. He thought the snail and the honey good enough for 
him, so he left the basket, ax, cutlass and seeds, only taking the fire 
and went off into the forest. 



138 HISTORICAL 80CISTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

Only man was left. Coming to a pretty stream where the 
soil looked good, he built a shelter, began to clear the forest, burn- 
ing the brush when dried, and planted the seeds. While the crops 
were growing he got some bark and built himself a hut. 

After a time Zambe started out to look after these children of his 
and to see how they were getting along. He found the baskets one 
after another just where they had been dropped. He bewailed the 
foKy of those he had sent out, saying they were not of his children. 
He went until he came to man's Tillage. He was greatly pleased 
thereat, and said: '^es, this man is my child," and ever since man 

has been Zambe's child. 

Dr. Johnson was showing how to make a ^^cat's cradle" with a 
string when one of the boys took it and made a great many different 
kinds, such as the doctor had never seen. - 

Alfred Wallace makes a similar statement in regard to the chil- 
dren in Borneo. 

The natives have a singular game played with tops. They cut off 
the end of the snail shell, spoken of before, making it about an inch 
and a half long. One man will ^lay his top on the hard-beaten 
ground; another man will take his station a few feet away, and, 
holding his top with the fingers, with the point in the hollow of the 
hand, then giving a throwing motion of the arm, together with a 
peculiar twist of the fingers, he sends it spinning along the ground 
like a top towards the other one, which, if it touches, he claims as 
his own. 

The rainbow by them is regarded as a huge python ; when one ap- 
pears they at once begin to attack it with guns and bows. 



CAPITAN AND TIN TIN 

BY LAURA EVEBTSEN KING. 

(Bead April 7, 1898.) 

In the words of Polonius, "Still harping on my daughter," you 
^ill perhaps say, but the subject of the Mission Indians has always 
been an interesting one to ma Taught in my early youth to seek 

that which was best in human nature, I naturally saw only the good 
in the Indian. In disposition like a child, easily led, but stubborn if 
driTen, he could be managed by those who were kind to him without 
difficulty. Always looking with reverence upon those whom he con- 
sidered his superiors, I was free to go and come among them in per^ 
feet safety, not safety from bodily harm, but immunity from coarse- 
ness or vulgarity. And "hush! there comes Lalita," was the pass- 
word. In the early fifties, the main street or roadway of the Mission 

San Oabriel ran about a mile and three-quarters from the church' in 
shape like a reclining letter L, the lines of the long shank of the let- 
ter-shaped street vanishing among the live-oak trees to the north of 
the Mission. On one side and between rows of willows, ran the 
sanja which watered the "milpas" of the Indians. And on either 
side of the street were the "jacals" or huts built of adobe and 
thatched with tule, which was cut in the lake near Pasadena, tied 
in bundles, dried in the sun, and bound on the roofs with thongs of 
the same, making a picturesque and weather-proof covering. There 
dwelt the remnant of the Mission Indinas. They planted com, beans, 
pumpkins, peas and chiles, and flowers of the brightest hues nodded 
to their reflections in the rippling zanja. 

I passed every morning and evening along this road to school, and 
was always greeted with a ^^uenos dias Lalita" from such as were 
sitting sunning themselves outside their doors. Quiet and gentle old 
Capitan and his wife raised mocking birds for market. In the spaces 
between the walls and thatched roof of his house the birds built 
their nests, and at the proper age for selling he carefully packed 
his young birds in an old tin pail some one had given him, and 
walked to Los Angeles, carrying his pail on his arm. Or if from 
necessity he sometimes sacrificed an old bird it rose to the dignity 
€< a cage made of reeds or cana Old Capitan was very reliable ia 



140 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

his dealings with customers, and one could always be sure that his 
bird was a singer; there being but a very slight difference in the 
feathers of the wings, it was an easy matter to pass upon a novice 
a female bird. The females do not sing. His birds were his pfls, 
and ate from his hands and sat upon his shoulders. They also came 
at his call. I remember distinctly, my mother had bought a bird 
from him, and, escaping from its cage, it flew to the topmost bough 
of an olive tree. The bird was given up as lost, until some one sug- 
gested sending for old Capitan. He came with an old cage, and, 
setting it upon the ground near by, gave a peculiar cry, which the 
bird answered, and to the astonishment of all, flew down from his 
perch and quietly entered the cage. Then he handed the bird to his 
mistress and returned home, not expecting any more reward than to 
have shown his influence over his pets. 

Then there was "Tin-Tin." Poor "Tin-Tin," whose worst fault was 
his love of "Agua Ardienta" But then, the Americans were the 
cause of his downfall, which occurred every Saturday night. All 
the week he labored faithfully and conscientiously, but on Sunday 
morning he would be seen by those on their way to the church with 
his head in the ditch, dragged there by some friend, to cool him off 
for Monday's work. He was a fine specimen of the Indian, as he 
was, and should be but for the civilization of the white man ; being tall 
and straight, and well built. But what constitution could stand 
"fire water" and ezi>08ure week after week? In his prime he was 
taken to the ditch for the last time a victim of his appetite^ and the 
greed of the white man. 

I must not forget the church choir, which made the round of ev- 
ery house on Sunday after services. It was composed of four mu- 
sical instruments, flute, violin, (some were rude enough to call it a 
fiddle,) triangle and drum. The principal object of the choir was 
the collection of tithes, which everyone was very willing to pay 
after listening to the music for an hour. The poet sang "Music 
hath charms to sooth the savage breast." It may have been that 
looking upon us as "aliens," they wished to impress us with the 
force of the quotation. The music was wild and weird, and helped 
to pass an otherwise long and lonely Sunday afternoon. I think 
that we all felt sad to see the "church choir" gradually transferred 
from this to the "choir invisible." And let us hope that in their 
"happy hunting grounds" they have exchanged the fiddle for the 
bow, and in exchanging their triangle have received the "horn of 
plenty," and all is on the "square." 



OLD FORT MOORB 

BY J. M. GUINN. 

(Part of an address deliyered July 4, 1897, at the Bexni- 
centennial of the first Fourth of July celebration 

in California.) 

It is an historical fact, but one that seems to be unknown to writ- 
ers of California history, that there were two forts planned and 
partially bnilt upon Fort Hill, in Los Angeles, daring the war for 
the conquest of California. The first was planned by Lieut. Wil- 
liam H. Emory, topographical engineer of Oen. Kearney's staff, and 
work begun upon it by Commodore Stockton's sailors and marines. 
The second was planned by Lieut. J. W. Davidson of the First 
United States Dragoons, and was built by the Mormon Battalion. 
The first was not completed and was not named. The second was 
named Fort Moore. Thedr location seems to have been identical. 
The first was designed to hold 100 men, the second was much larger. 
A brief review of some of the events preceding the building of the 
fort will not be out of place. 

After the defeat of the Californians under Gens. Flores and An- 
dres Pico at the battles of Paso de Bartolo and La Mesa, on the 8th 
and 9th of January, 1847, the American forces under Stockton and 
Kearney marched into the city and took possession of it. 

Lieut. Emory says: "Not altogether trusting to the honesty of 
Gen. Flores, who had once before broken his parole, we moved into 

town in line of battle. (The city, under fiag of truce, had been sur- 
rendered by a committee of citizens to Commodore Stockton.) It 
was a wise precaution, for the streets were full of drunken fellows, 
who brandished their arms and saluted us with every term of re- 
proach. The crest of the hill overlooking the town, in rifie range, 
was covered with horsemen engaged in the same hospitable man- 
ner. Our men marched steadily on until crossing the ravine leading 
into the public square (the plaza) when a fight took place among 
the Californians on the hill. One became disarmed and, to avoid 
death, rolled down the hill toward us, his adversary pursuing and 
lancing him in the most cold-blooded manner. The man tumbling 



142 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

* 

down the hill was supposed to be one of onr vaqueros, and the cry 
was raised *r«8cne him!' The crew of the Cyane, nearest the scene, 
at once and without orders halted and gave the man that was lan- 
cing him a volley. Strange to say, he did not fall." The commodore 
gave the jack tars a cursing, not so much for firing without orders 
as for their bad marksmanship. 

Shortly after the above episode the Calif ornians did open fire from 
the hill on the vaqueros in charge of the cattle. (These vaqueros 
were Galifomians in the employ of the Americans, and were re- 
garded by their countrymen as traitors.) A company of riflemen 
was ordered to clear the hill. A single volley effected this, killing 
two of the enemy. This was the last blood shed in the war; and the 
second conquest of California was completed as the first had been, 
by the capture of Los Angeles. Two hundred men with two pieces 
of artillery were stationed on the hill. 

The Angelenos did not exactly welcome the invaders with '^bloody 
handrs to inhospitable graves," but they did their best to let them 
know they were not wanted. The better class of the native inhab- 
itants closed their houses and took refuge with foreign residents or 
went to the ranches of their friends in the country. The fellows of 
the baser sort who were in the possession of the city exhausted their 
vocabularies of abuse on the invading gringos. 

There was one paisano who excelled all his countrymen in this 
species of warfare. It is a pity his name has not been preserved in 
history with that of other famous scolds and kickers. He rode by 
the side of the advancing column up Main street firing volleys of in- 
vective and denunciation at the hated gringos. At certain points 
in his tirade he worked himself up to such a pitch of indignation 
that language failed him, then he would solemnly go through the 
motions of "make ready; take aim," with an old shotgun he earned, 
but when it came to the order "fire!" discretion got the better of his 
valor; he lowered his gun and began again firing invective at the 
gringo soldiers; his mouth would go off if his gun would not. 

Commodore Stockton's headquarters were in the Abila House, 
the second house on Gracia street, north of the Plaza. The building 
is still standing, but has undergone many changes in fifty years. 

An amusing account was recently given me by an old pioneer of 
how Commodore Stockton got possession of the house. The widow 



OLD FORT MOOBS 148 

Abila and her daughters, at the approach of the Americans, had 
abandoned their home and taken refuge with Don Luis Vignes of the 
Aliso. Vignes was a Frenchman and friendly to both sides. The 
widow had left a young Californian in charge of her house, which 
was finely furnished, with strict orders to keep it closed. Stockton 
had with him a fine brass band, probably the best ever heard in Cali- 
fornia. When the troops halted on the Plaza the band began to 
play. The boyish guardian of the Abila Gasa could not resist the 
temptation to oi)en the door and look out. The strains of music drew 
him to the Plaza. Stockton and his staff, passing by, found the door 
iuTitingly open, entered and took possession. The recreant watch- 
man returned when the band ceased to play to find himself dispos- 
sessed and the house in the hands of the enemy. 

Flores' army was supposed to be hovering around the city, and 
Stockton determined to fortify. On January 11, Lieut. Emory says: 
'^I was ordered to select a site and place a fort capable of contain- 
ing a hundred men. With this in view, a rapid reconnoissance of 
the town was made, and the plan of a fort sketched; so placed as to 
enable a small garrison to command the town and the principal ave- 
nues to it. The plan was approved. Jnauary 12, 1 laid off the work, 
and before night broke ground." The sailors and marines were de- 
tailed by companies to work on the fort, "which work," the lieuten- 
ant says, ^'they performed bravely and gave me great hopes of suc- 
cess." On the 14th, Fremont with his battalion arrived from Ga- 
hnenga. There were then about one thousand troops in the city, and 
the old ciudad put on military airs. On the 18th, Kearney, having 
quarreled with Stockton about who should be Qovemor of the con- 
quered territory, left for San Diego, taking with him Lieut. Emory 
and other members of his staff. Emory was sent East by way of 
Panama, with dispatches. Stockton appointed Gol. Fremont Gov- 
ernor, and Gol. Bussel of the battalion. Secretary of State of the 
newly-acquired territory, and then took his departure for San Diego, 
where his ship, the Congress, was lying. The sailors and marines, 
on the 20th, took up their line of march to San Pedro to rejoin their 
ships, and work on the fort was abandoned. Lieut. Emory, in a foot- 
note to his published diary, says '^Subsequently to my leaving the 
Ciudad de Los Angeles, the entire plan of the fort was changed, and 
I am not the projector of the work finally adopted for defense of 
that town." 



144 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

Fremont's battalion was left in charge of the city. The Gk>yemor 

had established his headquarters in the Bell Block, comer of Aliso 

and Los Angeles streets, that being the finest building in the dty. 
Just before tEe arrival of Col. Cooke's Mormon Battalion, Capt. 
Owens, in command of Fremont's battalion, moved it with ten pieces 
of artillery to the Mission San Gabriel. Col. Cooke was an adherent 
of Gen. Kearney's, and Owens was a friend of Fremont. The re- 
moval was made probably to avoid unpleasantness between the two 
commanding officers. 

The quarrel for superiority between Stockton, Kearney, Fremont 
and Mason continued, and waxed hotter. Kearney had removed to 
Monterey, and Col. Cooke with his Mormon Battalion had arrived 
and been stationed at San Luis Rey. On March 12, Col. Cooke thus 
defines the situation : ^'Geoi. Kearney is supreme somewhere up the 
coast; Col. Fremont is supreme at Los Angeles; Commodore Shu- 
brick, the same at Monterey, and I at San Luis Bey; and we are all 
supremely poor, the government having no money and no credit, 
and we hold the territory because Mexico is the poorest of all." 

On March 23 the Mormon battalion arrived in Los Angeles. Fre- 
mont's battalion was mustered out, and the artillery removed to Los 
Angeles. Fremont shortly afterward left for Monterey to report to 
Kearney, who had established his claim to the Governorship, and 
then returned to St. Louis. Col. P. St. George Cooke was in com- 
mand of the southern military district. On the 20th of April rumors 
reached the city that the Mexican general, Bustamente, was ad- 
vancing on California with a force of 1500 men. 

"Positive information,-' writes Col. Cooke, "was received that the 
Mexican government had appropriated |600,000 toward fitting out 
this force." It was also reported that cannon and military stores 
had been landed at San Vicente, in Lower California, just below the 
line, and that the Californians were preparing for an insurrection. 
Precautions were taken against a surprise. A troop of dragoons 
was sent to Warner's Rancho to patrol the Sonora road as far as 
the desert. "The construction of a fort on the hill fully command- 
ing the town, which had been previously determined upon, was be- 
gun, and a company of infantry was posted on the hill." 

On the 23rd of April, three months after work had ceased on Em- 
ory's fort, the construction of the second fort was begun, and pushed 



OLD FORT MOORE 146 

vigoroQBlj. Bomors came thick and fast of the approach of the en- 
emy. On May 3, Col. Ck>oke writes: '^A report was received through 
the most ayailable sources of information, that Qen. Bustameute 
had crossed the gulf near the head in boats of the pearl fishers, and 
at last information was at a rancho on the western road, 70 leagues 
below San Diego." Col. Stevenson's regiment of New York Volun- 
teers had arrived in California and two companies of it had been 
sent to Los Angeles. The report that Col. Cooke had received rein- 
forcement and that the place was fortified was supposed to have 
frightened Bustamente and his invading army into abandoning the 
recapture of Los Angeles. 

On May 13, Col. Cooke was superseded by Col. J. B. Stevenson, in 
command of the southern military district. Work still continued 
on the fort. As work on it approached completion, Col. Stevenson 
was exercised about a suitable fiag staflf for his field works. Be 
wanted one at least 150 feet high. There was no tall timber in the 
vicinity of Los Angeles. A contract was let to a native of Califor- 
nia, Juan Bamirez, to bring timber from the San Bernardino Moun- 
tains of a suitable length to make a fiag pole. Juan Ramirez, with 
a number of carretas, a small army of Indian laborers and an ebcort 
of ten Mormon soldiers to protect him against the mountain Indians, 
repaired to the headwaters of Mill Creek in the mountains, where he 
found suitable timber. He brought down two tree trunks, one 
about ninety feet and the other seventy-five to eighty feet long, fast- 
ened on the axles of a dozen old carretas, each trunk tlrawn by 
twenty yoke of oxen and an Indian driver to each ox. The cary»en- 
tc^rs among the volunteers spliced the timbers and fashioned a beau- 
tiful pole 150 feet long, which was raised in the rear of Ihe field 
work, near what is now the southeast comer of North Broad 'vay and 
Bock street, or Fort Moore Place. 

By the 1st of July work had so far progressed on the fort that Col. 
Stevenson decided to dedicate and name it on the Fourth. He issued 
an official order for the celebration of the anniversary of the birth- 
day of American independence at this post, as he called Los Angeles. 

The following is a synopsis of the order: 

''At sunrise a Federal salute will be fired from the field work on 

the hill which commands this town, and for the first time from this 

point the American standard is displayed. 
''At 10 o'clock every soldier at this post will be under arms. The 



146 mSTOICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

detachment of the Seventh Regiment N. Y. Volunteers, and First 
Regiment, U. S. Dragoons (dismounted,) will be marched to the field 
work on the hill, when, together with the Mormon Battalion, the 
whole will be formed at 11 o'clock a.m. into a hollow square, when 
the Declaration of Independence will be read. At the close of this 
ceremony the field works will be dedicated and appropriately named, 
and at 12 o'clock a national salute will be fired 

'^The field work at this post having been planned and the work 
conducted entirely by Lieut. Davidson of the First Dragoons, he is 
requested to hoist upon it for the first time, on the morning of the 
4th, the American standard. 

'^It is the custom of our country to confer on its fortifications the 
name of some distinguished individual who has rendered important 
services to his country, either in the councils of the nation or on the 
battlefield. The commandant has therefore determined, unless the 
Department of War shall otherwise direct, to confer upon the field 
work erected at the post of Los Angeles the name of one who was 
regarded l>y all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance as a per- 
fect specimen of an American officer, and whose character, for every 
virtue and accomplishment that adorns a gentleman, was only 
equaled by the reputation he had acquired in the field for his gal- 
lantry as an officer and soldier, and his life was sacrificed in the 
conquest of this territory at the battle of San Pasqual. The com- 
mander directs that from and after the 4th inst. it shall bear the 
name of Moora" 

(It was named after Capt. Benjamin D. Moore of the First United 
States Dragoons.) 

The fort was never entirely completed. On the 15th of July the 
Mormon Battalion was mustered out of service and work on the fort 
ceased. 

It was located along what is now the easterly line of North 
Broadway at its intersection of Rock street, directly in front of the 
High School building. It extended southerly from near the north- 
erly line of Dr. Wills's lot across Rock street to about the middle of 
the fourth lot south of Rock street — or Fort Moore Place — ^a distance 
of nearly four hundred feet. 

It was not inclosed in the rear. It was a strong position, and two 
hundred men (about its capacity) could have held it against a thou- 
sand if attacked from the front, but its defenders could easily have 
been outflanked. In the rear of the fortifications was a deep ravine 
extending from the cemetery diagonally down across North Hill 
street, and the block between Hill street and Fort street, or Broad- 



OLD FORT MOORE 147 

way, and crossing Temple street at New High street, it came out on 
Bpring street south of the Allen Block. For many years the only 

road to the old cemetery led up the bottom of this ravine. Many 
an old-timer has been carried to his last resting place up the ceme- 
tery ravine. It was called the Gafiada de Los Muertos — the Caiion 
of the Dead. During the occupation of Los Angeles by the United 
States troops in 1847, there were frequent rumors of impending in- 
BDrrections. One of these was the indirect cause of a serious catas- 
trophe and loss of life. On the afternoon of December 7, 1847, an 
old lady called upon Col. Stevenson 'and informed him that a large 
body of Califomians had secretly organized and fixed upon that 

night for a general uprising to capture the city and massacre the 
garrison. The information was supposed to be reliable. Precau- 
tions were taken against a surprise. The guard was doubled and a 
ttrong reserve stationed at the guardhouse, which stood on the hill- 
side in the rear of the St. Elmo, about where Beaudry's stone wall is 
now. A piece of artillery was kept at the guardhouse. About mid- 
night one of the outpost pickets saw, or thought he saw, a horse- 
man approaching him. He challenged, but receiving no reply, fired. 
The guard at the caurtel formed to repel an attack. Investigation 
proved the picket's horseman to be a cow. The guard was oi^iered 
to break ranks. One of the cannoneers had lighted a port fire (a sort 
of fuse formerly used for firing cannon.) He was ordered to extin- 
guish it and return it to the armchest. He stamped out the fire and 
threw the fuse into the chest filled with ammunition. A spark re- 
kindled and a terrific explosion followed that shook the city like an 
earthquake. The guardhouse was blown to pieces and the roof 
timbers thrown into Main street. The wildest confusion reigned. 
The long roll sounded and the troops flew to arms. Four men were 
killed by the explosion and ten or twelve wounded, several quite se- 
riously. 

After peace was declared in 1848, the old fort was abandoned and 
it fell to ruins. The Historical Society some fourteen years ago, 
when the land belonged to the city, made an effort to secure its site 
for a historical building and museum. Although the land had but 
little value then, the Mayor and City Council were too short-sighted 
to grant the society's request. The site was sold for a few hundred 
dollars, and the old fort became one of our lost landmarks. 

The regular army officers stationed here fifty years ago all at- 
tained high rank in the civil war. Lieut-Col. Cooke and Lieuts. A. 
J. Smith, Stoneman, Emory and Davidson were made major-gener- 
als. Lieut. Davidson's original plan contemplated the erection of 
another fort on the south side of the hill now known as Mt. Lookout, 
and also the cutting away of a jutting point of Fort Hill that inter- 
fered with the range of his guns, but these projects were abandoned. 



PIONEER SCHOOLS AND THEIR TEACHERS 

BY LAURA EVERTSEN KING. 

Only pioneers or children of pioneers can understand the difflcnl- 
ties of obtaining an education in the early days of any State, partic- 
ularly California; stranded thousands of miles from civilization 
upon an almost unknown shore, surrounded by dangers, forgotten 
by friends and neglected by relatives; with no hope of returning 
home, for the thought of facing the dangers and hardships of cross- 
ing the plains a second time would have appalled the strongest 
heart. But there are compensating phases in the lives of every one, 
and the prospect of a school for their children was compensation for 
the difficulties overcome in obtaining teachers suitable for the posi- 
tion. Among the many who came to the Golden State in its early 
days were men and women of education, but, like angels' visits, scat- 
tered few and far between. To fiud them was no easy task, as some 
did not possess every virtue, and few were — like Chevalier Bayard — 
without fear and without reproach. 

The first schoolhouse of San Gabriel was built of wild mustard 
stalks, under the spreading boughs of an oak. As three months was 
the longest term, and that in the summer, mustard walls were con- 
sidered sufficient, being cool and airy, the children were not op- 
pressed by the heat nor in want of ventilation. The Board of Trus- 
tees was composed of William R. Stockton, Asa Lane, C, C. Twitchel 
and J. S. Waite. Some of the trustees being teachers, they served 
in both capacities. The position of teacher was more difficult than 
that of a general. As the parents of unruly children were in the ma- 
jority, the punishment of a child directed the wrath of the parents 
to the board, and charges of ignorance in putting such a man in of- 
fice generally resulted in a dismissal of the teacher on the ground of 
cruelty. More immigrants arriving in 1855, it was decided to enlarge 
the school, so an adobe house was bought of an old Californian. As 
it was not more than two or three miles distant from the different 
families and from the Mission, it was considered very central and 
easy of access. This building consisted of a room about twenty-flve 
feet long, with desks and seats of rough lumber — stakes driven into 



PIONSEB SCHOOLS AND THBIB TEACASBS 149 

the floors with boards upon them were the desks, slanted at an angle 
which necessitated the children hastening through their writing les- 
sons in as short a time as possible. I am sure that Spain in her hall 
of inquisition never possessed seats like these; the pupils being 
uailed to their benches by the quantity and quality of the splinters, 
were compelled to be on their best behavior. A dirt floor, which four 
children were detailed every Friday evening to sprinkle and sweep, 
was the best the school afforded. There were no windows to clean, 
the two that the building contained were closed by heavy wooden 
Hhutters, thrown open during study hours, with the soft summer 
breezes floating in and the song of the mocking bird filling the air, we 
tttudied our sometimes audible lessons. The first teacher I remember 
was William A. Wallace, sent by the Department of California to 
study the flora of the State. His meek and mild chraacter could not 
«tand the thorns of adversity which came in the shape of complaints 
made by the boys to their parents, and the parents, as usual, to the 
troard, that the schoolmaster did not know fractions. His time was 
00 taken up on Saturday and Sundays in the foothills among the 
flowers that he had no time to do their sunis. 

The next teacher's forte was recitations; on Friday all learned 
pieces; none were exempt, from the youn^wt child to the grown-up 
man. He even went to the extent of giving a prize of five dollars for 
the best recitation, and on the last day of llie week the walls of our 
adobe hall echoed to the inspiring lines of ''Rienzi's Address to the 
Romans," "The Boy Stood on the Burniug Deck," and "Lord UUenM 
Daughter." This teacher's name was Claudius Caesar Twitcbel, said 
by the men who knew him to be a fine scholar; to those who did not 
know him he seemed a tall, ungainly, unkempt man; and as water 
ran by the roadside and brushes, such as the Indians used, grew on 
the bushes the board demanded something mcirr^ than intellect. l-Ie, 
not caring to comply with their wishes, wont the way of the former 
teachers. 

As his successor is still seen on the streets, perhaps it would be 
wise for me to confine myself to an anecdote which will illustrate 
one phase of his character. Among his scholars were young men 
(boys as they were called,) devoted to the only forms of amusement 
available in the early days, such as horse racing and cock fighting, 
on Sundays. This side of the teacher's character bedng still untar- 
nished by his advent to the new El Dorado, he felt it his duty to cor- 



^50 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

rect the morals of his pupils and put before them in so hideous a 
light their breaking of the Sabbath that, being so much impressed 
by liis sermon, there is no telling where his influence might have ex- 
tended, had he only remained true to his convictions. But the result 
only shows how we are all open to temptation, and that the mote in 
our own eye so distorts our yision that we can see only the beam in 
the eye of our brother. 

In the early days of California there were other entertainments 
besides dancing and picnics, and these were days when some des- 
perado was to be hung. On such days the public was invited to at- 
tend and this teacher, unable to withstand the temptation of seeing 
a fellow-man swung high in air, dismissed his school that he might 
attend the sport; the only regret he felt was that he was there too 
late. 

In strange contrast to this teacher was a Baptist minister of 
stern aspect. He began by reforming our principles; everything was 
a sin, even a laugh; but he created a discipline in our school which 
it had never before known. Just as we had begun to like it, a boy 
who had been expelled for insubordination complained to the board, 
(which meant his parents) and Mr. Pendleton was given his walking 
papers. 

And now I come to my last, but not least, teacher — a woman. The 
first advent among us of a woman, whose softening influence was 
felt for two years, the longest term ever held in our school. She 
ruled by love alone; being small in stature and delicate in health, she 
called forth the rough sentiment of the boys and they were always 
on her side. Mrs. Foster has seen the darkest hours and known the 
severest sorrows that woman can know — those caused by a drunken 
husband, and necessity had sent her to us; but I think that even 
after she had left us and entered upon a more lucrative position, she 
bad a loving memory for our little adobe house under the live oaks. 
She boarded with us, and she and I walked to school together in the 
early mornings through the wild flowers, which glistened with dew 
on every side. The walk through the lanes of willows and the soft 
greetings of Mission Indians, still make a picture in my memory 
which time cannot efface. 



GOV. FELEPE DE NEVE 

BY H. D. BARROWS. 
(Read May 3, 1897.) 

The appointment of Felipe de Neve as Governor of the Calif ornias 
by Viceroy Bucareli wa« in every respect an admirable one. The 
Viceroy, himself an officer of enlarged views, had seen the evil ef- 
fects of the petty quarrels and obstructive tactics that had signal- 
ised the administration of Gov. Barri; and he therefore exercised 
the utmost care in the selection of the latter's successor; and in the 
preparation of instructions for his guidance, in his relation both with 
the commandante and with the padres. 

Gov. De Neve, who had been a major of cavalry, came to Loreto, 
Baja, California, and assumed the duties of Gefe Politico or Gov- 
ernor of the two Califomias, March 4, 1775. The military command- 
ante, Rivera y Moncada, for a time practically administered the af- 
fairs of the northern province, but as the extent and importance of 
this newly-settled region were better appreciated, an order was is- 
sued by the King, during this year, directing that Gov. de Neve 
should reside at Monterey, and that Commandante Rivera y Mon- 
cada should reside at Loreto and act as Governor of the peninsula. 
De Neve arrived by land at Monterey in the early part of 1777, and 
Rivera y Moncada soon after set out for Lower California. During 
Gov. de Neve's administration many important events in Cali- 
fornia history took place, including the founding of five missions, 
two presidios and two pueblos, or towns. 

The missions and the dates of their establishment were as follows, 
to wit: Dolores (San Francisco,) Oct. 9, 1776; San Juan Capistrano, 
Nov. 1, 1776; Santa Clara, July 18, 1777; San Gabriel, Archangel, 
Sept 8, 1778; San Buenaventura, March 31, 1782. 

The presidios, or military posts, established were: San Francisco, 
1776; Santa Barbara, 1780. And the pueblos were: San Jos^ de 
Guadalupe, Nov. 29, 1777; Los Angeles, Sept. 4, 1781. 

It was under de Neve's Governorship that steps were taken to lay 
the foundations of civil or secular institutions in the newly-settled 
territory. Almost from the first occupation the desirability of en- 



162 HI8T0BICAL SOCIETY OF 80UTHEBN CAUFOBMIA 

cooraging agricultural and other useful industries, whereby the ne 
cessities of the military establishments might be supplied at home 
instead of from abroad, was forced on the authorities, Gov. de Neve's 
attention having been called to this matter by Viceroy BucarelL He 
selected two valleys, one on the Porciuncula (Los Angeles) Uivar, 
and the other on the Guadalupe, through which valleys he had 
passed on his journey north in 1777, as being well adapted to agri- 
cultural and pastoral pursuits, and also as eligible sites for the loca- 
tion of permanent pueblos or towns. 

As showing the constructive statesmanship of Gov. da Neve, as 
well as the high estimate of his character and ability held by his so- 
periors in authority, it may be noted that, not only was he invited 
to formulate a reglamento and general plan for the government of 
the presidios, and of pueblos to be established, etc., but his compre- 
hensive plan, including provisions for colonization and for the dis- 
tribution of pueblo lands, etc., was approved and adopted almost 
without change, by decree of the King of Spain, and ordered carried 
into effect by Croix, Commandante-General of Provincias Intemaa. 
del Ocidenta The far-reaching effect of some of these ''regulations" 
of Gov. de Neve are felt even by the Anglo-American citizens of 
Alta California to this day. 

Many interesting episodes occurred during Gov. de Neve's admin- 

ititration which are too voluminous for detailed insertion here. 
Among these may be mentioned the contention that arose between 
him and President Serra concerning the technical power of the lat- 
ter to administer the rite of confirmation, in which both the Gov- 
ernor and the President of the missions held out stoutly, and eke 
conscientiously — as so many representatives of church and state, 
before and since, have done — for their respective prerogatives- 
While the differences between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities 
were earnest, even at times to the point of bitterness, during the 
rule of de Neve, the contest was carried on at least more decorously 
and in a more manly fashion than it had been under the rule of his 
predecessor, de Barri. 

Gov. de Neve showed statesmanship of a high order in his recom- 
mendations and regulations for the government of the new province, 
which were carried into effect, partly in his own time, and partly by 
his successors, and whose influence on the material and social well- 
being of the settlers was of a permanent and most beneficent 



GOV. FVLIPE DS NEVS 168 

chmracter. Eyidently he clearly saw that the missionarieB would 
never be able to convert the Digger Indians of Alta California into 
self-governing citizens. Therefore he early took steps towards the 
founding of a civil State by establishing towns or pueblos, which 
should be entirely separate from and independent of the missionary 
establishments, and also providing, as an essential part of the plan, 
for the distribution of pueblo lands to actual settlers, etc. 

In September, 1782, de Neve was promoted to the office of In- 
spector-Oeneral de Provincias Intemas, and received also the cross 
of the Order of San Carlos; on the 10th of the same month he was 
succeeded as (Governor by Pedro Fages; and the next year he was 
appointed Commandante-Oeneral de Provincias Intemas. He died 
Nov. 8, 1784. 

Gov. de Novels services and ability were duly appreciated by the 
governing authorities of New Spain, as is evidenced by the honors 
conferred upon him as above noted. During the latter portion of 
Us term as Governor of California he resided at San Gabriel, direct- 
ing the founding of the new pueblo of Los Angeles. Considering its 
lodttion in the midst of a magnificent and fertile valley, with one of 
the finest and most genial climates in the world, he must have fore- 
seen with prophetic eye that the modest civic settlement whose 
foundations he had laid, and in which he apparently took a deep in- 
terest, was to have a great future. 

GK>v. de Neve had no family. In manners he was courteous; and 
Bancroft with fine antithesis pays him this just compliment, that 
while other officials followed, more or less faithfully, the policy laid 
down in superior instructions, he largely dictated that policy; and 
he further finely says of him: ^Tinding that the friars would not 
submit to amicable recognition of the secular authorities, he pro- 
posed to restrict their control of the mission temporalities and of 
the natives, in the interests of colonization, of real civilization and 
the rights of man.'' 



RARE OLD BOOKS IN THE BISHOP'S LIBRARY 

BY THE REV. J. ADAM, V.G. 
(Bead Deo. 5, 1898.) 
In Bishop Montgomery's library are found some rare old books. 
Many of those have no duplicates in existence. These books for- 
merly belonged to the mission libraries. 

One book gives in alphabetical order a list of the Indians baptised 
at the Mission San Antonio de Padua. It gives very little that is in- 
teresting. Here are some examples of the Indian names found in 
it: Higuaichi, Talehuc, Teage, Tizecolmi, and one is named Bon, 

which has an English sound. 

Among these books are several on music. One of these is dated 
as far back as 1770, a year after the first explorer set foot in Upper 
California. If I w&ce a musician 1 might entertain you by giving a 
concert of this old music, and since I have mentioned a concert, al- 
low me to suggest an idea that occurs to me as I write: Gould we 
not engage some lovers of music to study these old music books and 
give a concert for the benefit of our Historical Society? We might 
realize handsomely from such an entertainment. One of these books 
of music is written in Italian and is called "Caccolta Armonica," 
namely, a collection or selection of harmony. In the first page some 
one that signs himself Peoria has written the following words in 
English: "Behold how I loved! Behold how you are loved! Behold 
how much you are loved! Behold how you are loved!" Poor Peoria! 
if he had lived in our time he could have written "Behold how little 
people love! Behold how little you are loved!" However, the book 
is not composed of profuse love songs, but all the hymns seem to be 
sacred, beginning with these beautiful words, "Mandami im raggio 
al meno di pieti lignure to the sperc 1 mio Auore," — whih means 
"Send me at least a rag of mercy o Lord; in Thee my heart puts its 
trust.'' 

Among these music papers I find one called a mass for four voices, 
with violin, tromb, organ and bajo (bass viol,) written by Ygna- 
cio Jerusalem. Some of you, perhaps, are not aware that in the old 



BARE OLD BOOKS IN THB BIBHOP'B LIBBABY 166 

times every mission had a set choir of musicians selected from among 
the Indian neophytes. These sang mass and vespers and hymns accopi- 
panied by string and wind instruments. Some years ago while pas- 
tor of Santa Cruz I had the pleasure of hearing three survivors of 
the old mission musicians — Lorenzo, Bustico and another whose 
name I cannot recollect. They sang for me on Holy Thursday, Good 
Friday and Holy Saturday, and it was a treat to hear them. They 
sang and played their violins. After service Saturday morning one 
of them came to my house to know if their services would be needed 
for Easter Sunday. I told him no; he asked the same question three 
or four times. I could not see then what his object was in asking so 
often. I paid them and soon after one of the altar boys ran to me 
saying: 'father, one of the Indian singers is lying down drunk 
outside the church door. Then I understood why he insisted on 
knowing whether their services were wanted or not. As soon as they 
found out they were free they indulged in their old habit. Another 
priest told me that when he wanted to secure the Indian musicians 
for the choir he had to lock them up in a room a day or two before 
in order to be sure of their services. And the amusing part of it 
was that, knowing their weak points, they would present themselves 
and say: 'Tather, here we are, lock us up if you wish to have us 
nng on such a day," etc. 

In some missions they had as many as one hundred players and 
singers, but they have nearly all disappeared. Once a year at least 
each one of them was given a new suit, and other privileges were 
granted to them to encourage them to serve in the choir. Among 
the old books are fragments of the so-called ^^ise Gatalona" — Cata- 
lonian mass — which used to be sung by the Indians on great feast 
days. It is believed these were copied by the Indians themselves. 
Strange to say, that after being here for more than 15 years, I have 
never come across any of these old books in our library. Another 
manuscript found is called ^'General Information or Statement of 
the Mission of Soledad," taken December 31, 1834. Said mission 
was situated in Monterey county, a few miles from Salinas City. I 
visited Paraiso Springs last summer. Part of the mission property 
was sold by Bishop Amat about 25 or 30 years ago. I passed close 
by the ruins of the old mission, and nothing remained of it except 
a few adobes. This statement says that up to that time— namely 
1834— there had been 2234 baptisms, 675 marriages and 1724 deaths. 



156 HISTORICAL 80GIETT OF 80UTHBBM CAUfORMIA 

At that time there were 350 Indians living at the misaion. They had 
4500 head of cattle, 4950 sheep, and horses, mnles and borroa, ISS. 
Crops in wheat, sowed 84 bushels, harvested 163; in barley, 25 bush- 
els, harvested 120; in Spanish peas, 20 bushels, harvested 31; in 
horse peas, 2J2 bushels, harvested 22; in com, 2 bushles, harveated 
60; in beans, 2 bushels, harvested 8; total, 406 bushels. 

It finishes the statement by saying that in that year no improve- 
ments were made^ but that the Indians were occupied in the field 
and their domestic duties; that the church was well supplied ot 
things for divine worship, and that the tools for tilling the aoil wece 
almost useless. 

While at Banta Cms I collected from the attic of my house acnnft 
papers of the old missions, and from them could see that each mit- 
sionary was obliged every year to send a report to his superior in 
Mexico of the temporal and spiritual state of his mission. Bons 
were filled with these reports in the convent of Ban Fernando, Mex- 
ico. When I visited the capital ten years ago and asked the one 
venerable Franciscan left to take care of the church to show me 
some of those papers, with a sigh he aaid they coist no more. The 
government confiscated our convent and opened a street through our 
property, seized all papers and, thinking them not worth keeping, 
burned them. Many things we might know of the dealings of the 
Fathers in missionary times if our modem vandals had spared these 
documents. As it is, they should be gathered up from the different 
missions for safe keeping; otherwise in a few years nothing will be 
.aiown of them, as to my own knowledge in our time they have been 
«acd to light the fire in some places. 



HOW A WOMAN'S WIT SAVED CALIFORNIA 

DR. J. D. MOODY. 

For centuries the longing eyes of Europe had been turned toward 
India and the Far East. The glowing reports of the few adyentiir- 
ons travelers who had penetrated these regions from time to time 
aroused the cupidity of the people of Europe and fired them with 
an intense desire to share in this marvelous wealth. 

India was a word to conjure with. It was this dream of the 
wealth of the Indies which led Columbus to brave the dangers of an 
unknown sea. His supposed success aroused the world and soon 
ships of every nation were pointing their prows towards this golden 
magnet. 

When it was realized that the new-found world was not India, 
strenuous efforts were made to find a waterway across this conti- 
nental barrier. Out of these centuries of fruitless search it slowly 
dawned upon the commercial world that the great highway to India 
lay directly across the continent. 

From the first conception of this idea began the struggle for the 
|K>8se8sion of the Pacific Coast. 

The commercial instinct of Great Britain early led her to secure a 
foothold on this coast, and once having a foothold she coveted the 
whole coast for her own. It was not the trade of these regions 
alone, great though it was, that led to this move, but she felt that 
the power holding the seaboard both on the Atlantic and the Pacific 
held within its grasp the key to the trade with the Orient. 

In the beginning of this century Russia held all of Alaska and a 
station on the coast a little way above San Francisco. England 
possessed the mainland adjacent to Vancouver Island, and disputinl 
with the United States for the possession of the Oregon country. 
The rest of the coast belonged to Spain. 

Already some American statesman had dreamed of a great em- 
pire on llie Pacific Coast growing out of the development of our 
western frontier, and some, at least, looking into futaritv, ^aw the 
necessity of directing this stream of Oriental wealth to our own 



168 HIBTOBIGAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

ttbores — a dream which is only just now about to be fulfilled. 

At the beginning of this century the Pacific Coast and all the in- 
tearvening territory between that and the Mississippi River was a 
Teritable terra incognita. But from time to time hunters, trappers 
and other adventurous spirits penetrated these wilds, and, coming 
back, told marvelous tales of eternal sunshine and fertile lands. 
Bestless humanity turned longing eyes towards these regions. This 
spirit of territorial expansion crept into Gongressionai debate and 
began to educate our statesmen in the possibilities that lay before us. 

Our thinking men were beginning to feel that all of the Paciflo 
Coast opposite our eastern border, with all of the intervening terri- 
tory naturally did, and eventually should, belong to us. This idea 
led them to keep a jealous eye on England's movements in the Pa^ 
ctflc. 

The Spanish possessions of Alta California were far from the 
home government, and held by a fiction of colonial authority that 
could easily be broken — and even after the independence of Mexico 
made this Mexican territory, it was practically as far from the then 
home government and as lightly held; and it was evident that at no 
distant day it would be owned by a stronger government. After a 
time the Russians abandoned their California settlements and re- 
tired to the extreme north. 

Oreat Britain and France were understood to be watching for a 
pretext to interfere and take possession of the country. American 
statesmen, however, were alert to foil, if possible, any such attempt. 
Under government auspices and by private enterprise exx>edition 
after expedition had crossed the deserts and penetrated the fast- 
nesses of the Rocky Mountains. At the time of our story, in 1842-3, 
the Oregon question was not yet settled, but was a source of great 
anxiety, and the cause of frequent communications between the gov- 
ernments. 

St. Louis was at this time the great emporium of the West. It was 
here that traders and expeditions were fitted out, and it was here 
that returned trappers and travelers congregated. The stories of 
the wonders they saw, the rich plains, immense herds of buffalo and 
other game, great mountains, and golden opportunities, fired with 
enthusiasm the already restless population of the Eastern States. 
Eknigrants began pouring into the Oregon country and were looking 
t6 the government for sympathy and for substantial aid. Thos. H. 



HOW A woUan'b Wit saved California 16) 

Benton, Senator from HisAOori, had his home here. He was a man 
of wide culture and of great influence in the national councils. 
There were none of the statesmen of that day who saw the possibili- 
ties of our country's future and who could plan for it as he. 

His home waa the center in which gathered men who held in com- 
mon with him one great zeal for western expansion. Here travelers 
froin the West met statesmen and tradesmen from the East and 
talked of the wonders of this newest world, and planned for this 
ffreat consummation. 

His daughter, Jessie Benton, was at this time but a miss in her 
teeha, but of far greater average intelligence than most of her age. 
She was her father's amanuensis, and as such she listened with won- 
der and delight to these conversations, and early became enthused 
with their far-reaching plans. 

The Mexican war was beginning to loom up on the political hori- 
son. Causes growing out of the social conditions in the South were 
urging it on. This to many seemed the great question of the day, 
and, strange to relate, many of the New England men of influence 
joined with the southern men in their opposition to this western ex- 
pansion. Western interests were by them relegated to the future. 
It is amusing in the light of today to read some of the debates in 
Congress on this subject. The whole country beyond St. Louis to 
the Pacific was declared valueless and that it could never be popu- 
lated. It was feared that a strong stand by our government on the 
Or«c^n question would be resented by Great Britain, and it was to 
their interest in this junction in Mexican affairs to placate her, so 
they threw every obstacle in the way of this western movement. But 
Senator Benton threw the whole weight of his influence, political 
and social, in favor of this extension. He gathered about him in his 
Washington home a group of men who thought as he did. They not 
only saw with the mind's eye a great nation in the future, but also 
the necessity for a great commerce to sustain that nation in its 
ffreatness. 

On the tombstone of Senator Benton at St. Louis is carved a hand 
with the finger pointing to the West, and underneath these words: 

'^There is the East, 
'There is the road to India." 

Hie dream of Columbus was still haunting the minds of men. 
About this time John C. Fremont, a young lieutenant of engineers, 



160 HISTORICAL 80CIBTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

became an inmate of Senator Benton's family, and was destined to 
play a considerable part in this opening of the West. 

In 1842 Whitman, a missionary to Oregon, learned definitely of an 
attempt soon to be made by the British to fully occupy Oregon, 
which up to this time had been under the joint control of Great Brit- 
ain and the United States. 

His wonderful ride to Washington and its results is a matter of 
history. It aroused the country and lent an additional interest to 
this discussion. Lieut. Fremont had lately been engaged in an ex- 
pedition into the Indian country, and this contact with its wild ac- 
tivities but whetted an appetite already keen with the explorer's en- 
thusiasm. 

This was a period of great excitement in our country. Trouble 
with Mexico was brewing. James Buchanan was Secretary of 
State. Much of the correspondence and many of the public docu- 
ments coming to his office were in the Spanish lanjguage. These he 
took to Senator Benton's house for translation. His young daugh- 
ter did much of this work and thus came to have a comprebensive 
knowledge of these national ques^xions, a knowledge which she soon 
made good use of. The necessity for a better acquaintance with this 
western territory became imperative. In 1842 western influence se- 
cured the fitting out of an expedition to the "frontier beyond the 
Mississippi," as the orders read, and with Lieut. Fremont as its 
leader. As the government did not wish to have any trouble with 
England arise at this time, and possibly fearing some hidden reason 
for its going, insisted that it be conducted as a peaceful, geograph- 
ical expedition. The western men had to proceed cautiously. 

Lieut. Fremont did not like these orders, and with Senator Ben- 
ton's influence, secured a modification allowing it to go to the Rocky 
Mountains, with South Pass, the gateway to Oregon, as the partic- 
ular point to be examined. Those in the secret meant that it should 
be more than this; that in fact, it should lend a direct aid to the em- 
igration into Oregon in order that we should possess the land our- 
selves. Miss Benton had now become Lieut. Fremont's wife, and as 
his secretary, accompanied him to St. Louis, where he was to fit out 
the expedition. Among other things he added n howitzer to his 
equipment. This coming to the notice of the deiiartment at Wash- 
ington, the chief of the Topographical Bureau sent an order at once 
for his return to Washington to explain ^hy. in fitting out a scien- 



HOW A woman's wit BANBD CALIFORNIA 161 

tiflc expedition, he had added this military cquiiiment. 

Fremont in the meantime, having gotten his party together, had 
moved to Kaw's Landing (near where Kansas City now stands,) in 
order that his horses might feed on the tender new grass as a better 
preparation for the long journey before them. His wife, as his sec- 
retary, was to open his mail and forward such bb concerned him, to- 
gether with such supplies as were needed to complete the organiza- 
tion. In this capacity she opened the letter from Washington. 
When she read its contents she instinctively saw that it would de- 
lay and hinder the plans formed with so much care and circumspec- 
tion, and she also felt that in this order a hidden hand was at work. 
JJer woman's wit grasped the situation, she retained the order and 
BTOte her husband to start at once and ask no questions. 

Attached to Freuiont's party was a Frenchman, De Rosier, ono 
of his most trusty men. His wife was in St. Louis and soon to be 
confined. He was with her at this time. Mrs. Fremont feared that 
duplicate orders might have been sent by some other means. In 
her quandary she thought of De Rosier, and felt that she could trust 
him. She sent for him and asked him how soon he could start with 
a message to Lieut. Fremont. He said ^'at once." She explained to 
him the necessity lor hurry, and directed him to go overland and bv 
the most direct way, taking advantage of every cut-ofif he could 
make. The route this way would be shorter than by the river, the 
route on which any duplicate orders would probably be sent. In her 
letter she told Lieut. BYemont that there was need of hurry, and to 
fitart at once with the horses in such condition as they were and not 
to await further supplies. On receipt of her letter he moved at on *e 
to Bent's Ford, a long Wdvs westward and quite out of reach of any 
orders from Washington. 

When Mrs. Fremont received this order she was sitting in her 
room with her work basket by her side doing some sewing for a lit- 
tle daughter. Instead of forwarding this with the rest of the mail, 
she tucked the order underneath the baby clothes in the basket and 
sent instead the now famous order. Lieut. Fremont did not know 
the reasons for her vague but imperative command until eighteen 
months after, when he returned from this trip. He had faith in his 

wife and went without a question. 

Mrs. Fremont at once wrote to his chief in Washimgton just what 
■he had done, and giving bb her reaBon the forward state of the 



l62 HIBTOBICAL 800ISTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

preparations for the expedition, and the lateness of the season which 
wonld make necessary a wait of a whole year, if now delayed. 

Her father, Senator Benton, approved of her action and defended 
her so successfully that nothing more was said about it. 

tn this expedition Lieut Fremont waB accidentally turned into 
California and traversed a good portion of that Territory. The re- 
ports of this expedition electrified the whole country, and aroused 
a great interest in Europe. In 1842 one thousand emigrants crossed 
the mountains into Oregon and in 1843 two thousand more went 
through the pass explored by Fremont Those living at the time re- 
port the excitement both in this country and in Europe as something 
wonderful. The reports of this expedition led to a third just In 
time to snatch the golden California from the hands of the British, 
ready to clutch it (Benton.) Had this second expedition been aban- 
dohed at this time, under these orders from Washington, undoabt- 
edlv the British would have gained iK>ssession, not only of Oregoili 
but of the whole Pacific Coast 

It was a brave thing for Mrs. Fremont to do, the retaining of ibis 
order and the sending the expedition ofif, but she had faith in her 
husband, in her father's protection, and in a great western empire 
for this country. 

Thus it was that a woman's wit saved to us California — and the 
Orient as well. 



EL ESTADO LIBRE DE ALTA CALIFORNIA 

THE FREE STATE OP UPPER CALIFORNIA 

BY J. M. GUINN, 

(Bead March 5, 1898.) 

There is no other State or Territory in our Federal Union that, 
during its civic life, has lived under so many different forms of gov- 
emment as California has. 

First a semi-civic semi-ecclesiastical colony of Spain ; from that it 
changes to a province of the empire of Mexico, next a Territory of 
the Mexican republic, then the free and sovereign State of Alta Cali- 
fornia — en independent government — a nation all by itself; back 
again as a department of the supreme government of Mexico; next 
the California republic, with the Bear Flag as its emblem; then a 
Territory of the United States, with a military Governor, and lastly 
a sovereign State of the Federal Union. The story of the California 
republic and its emblem, the Bear Flag, has been told many times; 
and by dramatic historians magnified beyond its real importance, 
but the story of the rise and fall of El Estado Libre y Soberano de 
Alta California (The Free and Sovereign State of Upper California) 
under its self-constituted Governor, Juan Bautista Alvarado, is al- 
most an unknown chapter of California history. Writtan in quaint 
provincial Spanish on the pages of the old pueblo archives in f rag- 
Aientary chapters is told the story of its stormy life and untimely 
death; or rather, is told the part that Los Angeles played in the life 
drama of £1 Estado Libre (The Free State.) 

The effort to free California from the domination of Mexico and 
make her an independent government was one of those spasmodic 
blows for liberty the records of which are scattered thickly over the 
pages of history. The origin of the movement to make California 
independent and the causes that led to an outbreak against the gov- 
erning power were very similar to those which led to our separation 
trcm our own mother country — England — namely, bad Governors, 
^tii^een 1831 and 1836, when Alvarado, a native-born Californian, 
became Governor, the Territory had had six Mexican-born Governors. 



164 HI8TOBICAL SOdETY OF 80UTHSRN CAUFORNIA 

Two of these the Califomians deposed and deported out of the coan- 

try, and a third was made so nncomfortable that he exiled himself. 

Many of the acts of these Goyemros were as despotic as those of the 
royal Ooyemors of the colonies before the revolation. California 
was a fertile field for Mexican adventurers of broken fortunes. Mex- 
ican officers commanded the troops, Mexican officials looked after 
the revenues and embezzled them. There was no outlet for the am- 
bitious native-bom sons of California. There was no chance for 
them to obtain office. And one of the most treasured prerogatives 
of the free-bom citizen of any republic is the privilege of holding 
office. 

A series of petty arrogances court scandals, overbearing acts of 
officials, arbitrary arrests, and banishments and imprisonments of 
prominent men running through the administrations of Governors 
Victoria, Gutierrez and Chico resulting in several petty revolutions, 
finally culminating in an uprising or revolt at Monterey in No/., 
1836, headed by Castro and Alvarado. They collected an army of 
75 natives and an auxiliary force of 25 American hunters and trap- 
pers under the command of Graham, a backwoodsman from Tenaes- 
see. By a strategic movement, Alvarado and Castro captured the 
Castillo which commanded the presidio where Gutierrez and the 
Mexican army officers were stationed. The patriots demanded the 
surrender of the fort and the arms. The Governor refused to sur- 
render. A shot from the cannon of the castillo was fired into the 
commandante's house, scattering the Governor and his staff. This, 
and the desertion of most of his soldiers to the patriots, brought the 
Governor to terms. On the 5th of November, 1836, he surrendered 
the presidio. Ho and about 70 of his adherents were placed aboard 
a vessel in the harbor and shortly afterward shipped to Mexico. 
With the Mexican Governor and his officers out of the Territory the 
next move of Castro and Alvarado was to call a meeting of the dip- 
utacion or Territorial Congress. A plan for the independence of 
California was adopted in which it was declared that ^'California is 
erected into a free and sovereign State, establishing a Congress 
which shall pass all the special laws of the country; also assume 
the other necessary supreme powers." "The religion will be Roman 
Catholic apostolic, without admitting the public worship of any 
other, but the government will molest no one for his private re- 
ligious opinions." 



■BTADO LIBBB DE ALTA CALIFORNIA 165 

The diputacion isBoed a declaration of independence that ar- 
raigned the mother country, Mexico, and her officials very much in 
the style that our own declaration gives it to King (George III. 

Castro issued a pronunciamiento ending with viya la federacion, 
\ir9L la libertad, yiva eJ estado Libre y Soberano de Alta California! 
<The Free and Sovereign State of Alta California.) 

Thus amid vivas and pronunciamientos, with the beating of 
dmms and the booming of cannon, Estado Libre de California was 
launched on the political sea. But it was rough sailing for the little 
craft Her ship of state struck a rock and for a time shipwreck was 
threatened. For years there had been a growing jealousy between 
Northern and Southern Claifomia. Los Angeles through the ef- 
forts of Jos6 Antonio Carrillo had succeeded in obtaining a decree 
from the Mexican Congress in 1835 making it the capital of the Ter- 
ritory. Monterey had persistently refused to give up the Coventor 
and the archives. In the movement to make California a free and 
independent State, the Angelenos recognized an attempt on the part 
of the people of the north to deprive them of the capital. Although 
as bitterly opposed to Mexican Covemors and as active in fomenting 
revolutions against them as the people of Monterey, the Angelenos 
chose to profess loyalty to the mother country. They opposed the 
plan of government adopted by the Congress at Monterey and formu- 
lated a plan of their own in which they declared California was not 
free; that ^^the Soman Catholic apostolic religion shall prevail in 
this Jurisdiction and any person publicly professing any other shall 
be prosecuted as has been the custom heretofore;" and closed by 
professing their loyalty to Mexico. 

San Diego and San Luis Bey sided with Los Angeles, Sonoma and 
San Jos6 with Monterey, while Santa Barbara, always conserva- 
tive, was undecided, but finally issued a plan of her own. 

Alvarado and Castro determined to suppress the revolutionary 
Angelefios. They collected an army of 80 natives and 25 American 
riflemen under Graham and Coppinger and with this force prepared 
to move against the recalcitrant surefios (southerners.) The Ayiin- 
tamiento of Los Angeles began preparations to resist the mvaders. 
A force of 270 men was enrolled, part of which was Indian neophytes. 
To secure the sinews of war, Jos^ Sepulveda, second alcalde, was 
sent to the Mission San Fernando to seise what money there was in 



166 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

the hands of Mayordomo. He returned with two packages which, 

when conntedy were found to contain {2000. Scouts patrolled the 

Canimo del Bey as far ss San Buenayentura and pickets guarded 
the Pass of the Cahuenga and the Bodeo de las AguaB to prevent 
northern spies from entering and southern traitors from getting out 
of the pueblo. The southern army was stationed at San Fernando 
under the command of Alferez Bocha. Alyarado, pushing rapidly 
down the coast, reached Santa Barbara, where he was kindly re- 
ceived and his force recruited to 120 men, with two pieces of artillery. 
On the 16th of January, 1837, from San Buenaventura he dispatched 
a conciliatory letter to the Ayuntamiento of Los Angeles, but inti- 
mated in it that he had a large force which he would use against 
their army if it became necessary. The hint had the desired effect. 
The Ayuntamiento concluded that Juan Bautista was not such a 
very bad fellow, after all. Commissioners were sent to treat with 
him. After considerable parleying no decision was reached. Alva- 
rado cut short the negotiations by demanding the immediate surren- 
der of the Mission San Fernando, intimating that if his demand was 
not complied with at once he would take it by forca The Angele- 
lies had a wholesome fear of Graham's riflemen. These felows, armed 
with long Kentucky rifles, shot to kill, and should they be turned 
loose on the southerners, the male population of Los Angeles would 
be greatly reduced, so the Commissioners with very bad grace or- 
dered the mission vacated and their soldiers to return to Los Ange- 
les. Bocha, the commander of the southern army, swore more ter- 
ribly than "the army in Flanders." 

The day after the surrender of the mission, Jan. 22, 1837, the 
Ayuntamiento held a session, and the members were as obdurate 
and belligerent as ever. They resolved that it was only in the in- 
terests of humanity, and to avoid bloodshed that the mission had 
been surrendered to the enemy; and declared that California was not 
a free and sovereign State; that Juan Bautista was not its Governor, 
and that Los Angeles was ready to defend the national integrity 
and maintain the laws of the supreme government. Next day Al- 
varado entered the city without opposition, the Angelenian soldiers 
retiring to San Gabriel, and from there scattering to iheir hoiof s. 

An extraordinary session of the most illustrious Ayuntamiento 
was called. A treaty of amity was agreed upon by which Alvarado 
was recognized as Governor. The belligerent surefios vied with each 



B8TADO LIBRE DE ALTA CALIFORNIA 167 

other in expressiiig their admiration for the new order of things. 
Pio Pico wished to express the pleasure it gave him to see an hijo del 
pais — a son of the conntry — in office; and Antonio Osio, the most 

belligerent of the southerners, declared ^'that sooner than again 
submit to a Mexican dictator as Ooyernor, he would flee to the forest 
and be devoured by wild beasts." Alvarado made a conciliatory 
speech, in which he thanked Pico and the Council for the good opin- 
ion they had expressed of the Territorial goyemment and himself. 
He promised that he would see to it that offices were conferred on 
native sons. Hereafter they would examine into the character of 
i;ovemment officials. The supreme government had sent men here 
who had in mapy cases turned out to be ^'either knaves or fools." He 
begged their pardon for using such harsh terms, but they were in- 
dicative of his frankness. Then he intimated to the members of 
Council that it took money to support a standing army, but under 
certain circumstances such an army was necessary; therefore would 
they please turn over to him the money they had taken from tLe 
Mission San Fernando. With a wry face very much such as a boy 
wears when he is told that he has been spanked for his own good, 
the alcalde paid over the balance of the mission money to Juan 
Bautista; and the Governor took his departure, leaving, however. 
Col. Jos6 Castro at the Mission San Gabriel with part of the army 
to watch the Angeleflos. Peace had apparently been established 
throughout the realm. And Estado Libre de California took her 
place among the nations of the earth. But the reign of peace was 
brief. At the meeting of the Ayuntamiento, May 27, 1837, Juan 
Bondini and Santiago E. Arguello of San Diego appeared with a 
pronunciamiento and a' plan — San Diego's plan of government. 
Monterey, Santa Barbara and I.os Angeles had each formulated a 
plan of government for the Territory, and now it was San Diego*s 
turiL Agustin V. Zamarano, who had been exiled with Gov. Guti- 
erresy had crossed the frontier and was made Gommandaute-General 
and Territorial Political Chief ad interim by the San Diego revolu- 
tionists. 

The San Diego plan restored California to obedience to the su- 
preme government. All acts of the diputacion and the Monterey 
plan were annulled, and the northern rebels were to be arraigned 
and tried for their part in the revolution, and so on through twenty 
articles. On the plea of an Indian outbreak near San Diego in 



168 HISTOBIGAL 80CIETT OF SOUTHERN OALEPOBNIA 

which the red men it was reported ^^were to make an end of the 

white race," the big cannon and a nnmber of men were secured at 
Los Angeles to assist in suppressing the Indians, but in reality to 
reinforce the army of the Ban Diego revolutionists. With a force of 
125 men under Zamorano and Portilla, ^'the army of the supreme 
government" moved against Castro at Los Angeles. Castro retreated 
to Santa Barbara and Portilla's army took up its position at Ban 
Fernando. The civil and military officials of Los Angeles took the 
oath to support the Mexican Constitution of 1836, and this absolved 
them from all allegiance to Juan Bautista and his Monterey plan, 
at least so they thought Alvarado hurried reinforcements to Castro 
at Banta Barbara and Portilla called loudly for ''men, arms and 
horses" to march against and conquer the northern rebels. But 
neither military chief advanced beyond his own frontier, and the 
summer wore away without a battle. There were rumors that Mex- 
ico was preparing to send an army of 1000 men to subjugate the 
rebellious Califomians. 

In October came the news that Josd Antonio Carrillo, the Macha- 
velli of California politics, had persuaded President Bustamente of 
Mexico to appoint Carlos Carrillo, Josh's brother, Governor of Cali- 
fornia. 

Then consternation seized the Free-State men of the north and 
the sureflos (southerners) of Los Angeles went wild with joy. They 
illuminated the town that night and the big cannon boomed. It was 
not that they loved Carlos Carrillo, for he was a Santa Barbara man, 
and had opposed them in the late unpleasantness, but they saw in 
his appointment an opportunity to get revange on Juan Bautista for 
the way he had humiliated them. They congratulated Carrillo on 
his appointment and invited him to make Los Angeles the seat of 
his government. Carrillo was flattered by their attentions and con- 
sented. The 6th of December, 1837, was set for his inauguration, 
and great preparations were made for the event. The big cannon 
was brought over from San Gabriel and the city was ordered illu- 
minated on the nights of the 6th, 7th and 8th of December. Cards 
of invitation were issued, and the people from the city and country 
wert^ invited to attend the inauguration ceremonies '^dressed as de- 
cent as possible," so read the invitations. 

The widow Josefa Alvarado's house, the finest in the city, was 
secured for the Governor's palacio (palace.) The largest hall in the 



■BTADO LIBRB DE ALTA CALIFORNIA 169 

city was secured for the services and "decorated as well as it was 
possible." The city treasury being in its usual state of collapse, a 
subscription for defraying the exi>en8es was opened and horses, 
bides and iallow, the current coin of the pueblo, were liberally con- 
tributed. On the appointed day "The Most Illustrious Ayuntamiento 
and the citizens of the neighborhood," so the old archiyes read, "met 
His Excellency, the Governor, Don Carlos Carrillo, who made his 
appearance with a magnificent accompaniment." The secretary, 
Narciso Botillo, "read in a loud, clear and intelligible voice the oath, 
and the Governor repeated it after him." At the moment the oath 
was completed the artillery thundetred forth a salute and the bells 
rang out a merry peal. The Governor made a speech, when all ad- 
journed to the church, where a mass was said and a solemn Te Deum 
sung; after which the citizens repaired to the house of His Excel- 
lency, where the southeon patriots drank his health in bumpers of 
wine and shouted themselves hoarse in vivas to the new government. 
An inauguration ball was held. The "beauty and the chivalry" of 
the south were gather there, "The lamps shone o'er fair women and 
brave men," and it was 

"On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined; 

No sleep till morn when youth and pleasure meet 

To chase the glowing hours with flying feet." 

The tallow dips flared and flickered from the porticos of the 
houses, bonfires blazed in the streets, and the big cannon boomed 
salvos from the old Plaza. Los Angeles was the capital at last, and 
had a Governor all to itself, for Santa Barbara, always conservar 
tive, refused to recognize Carrillo, although he was a citizen of that 
place. The Angelefios determined to subjugate the Barbarefios. An 
army of 160 men under Castefiada was sent to capture their oity. 
After a few futile demonstrations Castefiada fell back to San Buena- 
ventura. Then Alvarado determined to punish the recalcitrants of 
the south. Gathering together an army of 200 men by forced 
marches he and Castro reached San Buenaventura and by a Htrate- 
gic movement captured all of Castefiada's horses and drove his 
army into the Mission Church. For two days the battle raged, and 
cannon to the right of them and cannon in front of them at long in- 
tervals 'Volleyed and thundered." One man was killed on the north- 
cm side, and the blood of several mustangs watered the soil of their 
native land. Indeed, in the California revolutions the bronco was 



170 HISTORICAL BOCIETY OF SOIJTHERN GAUFOBNIA 

frequently called upon to die for his country. It was easier for the 
native marksman to hit the horse than the rider. The sonthemers 
slipped out of the church at night and fled up the valley on foot 
Kext day Castro's caballeros captured about 70 prisoners. Pio Pico, 
with reinforcements from San Diego, met the demoralized remnant 
of Gastefiada's army at the «Banta Clara Biver and the southern 
army, or what was left of it, fell back to Los Angeles. Then there 
was wailing in the old pueblo, where so lately there had been re- 
joicing, and curses not loud but deep against Juan Bautista. Gov. 
Carlos Carrillo gathered together what men he could get to go with 
him and retreated to San Diego. Alvarado's army took possession 
of the southern capital and some of the leading conspirators were 
sent as prisoners to Vellejo's bastile at Sonoma. Carrillo received 
a small reinforcement from Mexico under a Capt. Tobar. Tobar was 
made general and given command of the southern army. Carrillo, 
having recovered from his fright, sent an order to the northern reb- 
els to surrender within fifteen days under the penalty of being shot 
as traitors if they refused. 

Instead of surrendering, Castro and Alvarado, with a force of 200 
men, advanced against Carrillo. The two armies met at Campo do 
Lae Flores. Gen. Tobar had fortified a (»attle corral with rawhides, 
carretas and cottonwood poles. A few shots from Alvarado's artil- 
lery scattered Tobar's rawhide fortifications and convinced Carrillo 
of the error of his ways. He surrendered. Gen. Tobar made his 
escape to Mexico. Alvarado ordered the misguided Angelefian sol- 
diers to go home and behave themselves, and brought back with 
him their captive Governor; but unwilling to humiliate him by tak- 
ing him through his former capital, Los Angeles, he passed through 
San Gabriel, San Pasqual and the Verdugos and thence on to Car- 
rillo's rancho, near Ventura, where he left him in charge of his 
(Carrillo's) wife, who became surety for the deposed ruler. Carrillo 
after a time again claimed the Governorship on the plea that he, 
having been appointed by the supreme government, was the only 
legal Governor, but the Angelefios had had "too much Carrilo." 
Disgusted with his incompetency, Juan Gallardo, at the session of 
May 14, 1838, presented a petition praying that this Ayuntamiento 
do not recognize Carlos Carrillo as Governor because he had re- 
cently "compromised all the country from San Buenaventura south 
into the declaration of a war the incalculable calamities of which 



S8TAD0 LIBBE DE ALTA CALIFORNIA 171 

wiU never be forgotten to the remotest ages, not even by the most 

ignorant. Seventy citizens signed the petition, but the City Attor- 
ney, who had done time in Vallejo's bastile, decided the petition il- 
legal because it was written on common paper, wheoi paper with the 
proper seal could be obtained. Gallardo presented his petition on 
legal paper at the next meeting. Then the Ayuntamiento decided to 
sound the public alarm and call the people together to give them 
'^public speech" on the all-important question. The public alarm 
was sounded, the people gathered at the City Hall, speeches were 
made on both sides. When the vote was taken 22 were in favor of 
the northern Governor, 5 in favor of whatever the Ayuntamiento de- 
cides, and Sebulo Vereles, the recalcitrant agitator of the pueblo, 
alone favored Carlos Carrillo. So the Council decided to recognize 
Don Juan Bautista Alvarado as Governor and leave the supreme 
government to settle the contest between him and Carrillo. 

Notwithstanding this apparent burying of the hatchet there were 
n/mors of plots and intrigues in Los Angeles and San Diego against 
Alvarado. At length, aggravated beyond endurance, the Governor 
Bent word to the surefios that if they did not behave themselves he 
would shoot ten of the leading men of the south ''full of large and 
irregular holes," or words to that effect. As he had about that 
number locked up in the Castillo at Sonoma, his was no idle threat. 

His threat so terrified the deposed Governor, Carlo*? rJanillo, that 
he took to sea in an open boat with three of his retainers, doubtless 
with the intention of escaping to Lower California, but "unmerciful 
disaster followed him fast and followed him faster." He was 
wrecked the first day out, cast ashore on the Malibu Coast, and com- 
pelled to ignominiously foot it home to his wife, who, in all proba- 
bility, took the nonsense out of him. At least he gave Alvarado no 
more trouble. 

One by one Alvarado's prisoners of state were released from Val- 
lejo bastile at Sonoma and returned to the old pueblo sadder if not 
wiser men. At the session of the Ayuntamiento, October 20, 1838, 
the President announced that the senior regidor, Jos^ Palomares, 
had returned from Sonoma, where he had been compelled to go by 
reason of 'Apolitical differences," and that he should be allowed his 
seat In the Council. It was granted unanimously. 'Tolitical differ- 
ences" for a civil war is as good a term, and indeed more expressive, 
than our 'Hate unpleasantness." At the next session of the Ayunta- x 



y 



173 




foreed to be abijn tj caraHOMCs bercsd kis eonrol, 
forfeited ks mxTftMrrwkipu l%m Xaxraoo daimed ka 
f or tke i¥e ud a kmH w^mAm tkat he viu a printer, fSSt is mSL 
The dfiiad ftrack lemr into tke beuts of tke rtg^donm. The 
treuwT no eBplj. 

The last hone ami the last hide had beca paid ovt to defrm j the 
expesoeo of the inao^vratioa fesdrities of Carloa. the pretender, aal 
of the ciTil war that followed. Indeed, there was a treasorr deidt 
of whole caballadas of horses and bales of hides. A linanrial panie 
ehreatened the dd poeblo if the demand was enforced. But tiie <rii 
regidores were equal to the emergency. Thej postponed acticMi and 
referred the case to the Goremor to decide. He decided in fsTor of 
Xan-iso; then it went to committee after committee. Hie case Is 
still pending in the Court of Claims of £1 Estado Libre— at least I 
know of no decision. 

The snrefios of Los Angeles and Ban Diego, finding that in AIts- 
rado thej had a man of coarage and determination to deal with, 
submitted to the ineTitable and cea»ed from troubling him. He was 
invited to visit Los Angeles and i>eace once more reigned in the old 
ffueblo. A few months later he was commissioned Governor by the 
supreme government. El Estado Libre de California was a nation 
no more. Indeed, Alvarado months before had abandoned the idea 
of founding a new nation, and had made his peace with the supreme 
government by taking the oath of allegiance to the Constitution of 
1836. 

Thus ended California's war of independence. The loyalists of 
Houthern California received no thanks from Mexico for all their 
profc»Hsions of loyalty, while the rebellious northerners obtained all 
the rewards — the capital, the Governor and the offices. The su- 
premo government of Mexico gave the deposed Governor, Carlos 
Carrillo, a grant of the island of Santa Rosa in the Santa Barbara 
Channel, but whether it was given him as a salve to his wounded 
dignity or as an Elba or St. Helena, where in event of his stirring up 
another revolution Alvarado might banish him a la Napoleon, the 
archives do not inform ns. 



REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 

X898. 

To the Officers and Memben, Historical Society of Southern California: 
I beg lea^e to submit the following report — 

Nmnber of meetings held 8 

Number of papers read 18 

Number of new members elected 7 

Titles to papers presented: 

JANUARY. 

I Who Were the Aborigines of America Prof. A. E. Teres 

a Isla de Los Mnertos Mrs. M. Barton Williamson 

Pebmary — No meeting held. 
March — Held in Pasadena. 

3 Hugo Reid and His Indian Wife, Dona Victoria Lanra Evertsen King 

4 Bl BMsdo Libre de AlU California J. M. Gninn 

APRIL. 

5 Ste]>hen C. Poster H. D. Barrows 

6 Capitan and Tin Tin.Types of Mission Indians Laura Evertsen King 

7 Some Pamons Gold Rashes J. M. Guinn 

MAY. 

How a Woman's Wit Saved California Dr. J. D. Moody 

John G. Nichols H. D. Barrows 

June — Held in Pasadena. 
Key We«t M. M. Meyers 

OCTOBER. 
Pacific Coast Disooyeries A. E. Yexez 

NOVEMBER. 

Pfooeer Teachers and their Schools Laura Evertsen King 

A Native Califorian's Story H. D. Barrows 

The Evolution of the Pueblo de Los Angeles J. M. Guinn 

DECEMBER. 

My Travels in Switzerland Rev. J. Adam 

Conmado's Journey A. E. Yerez 

Notes on San Gabriel Mission Rev. J. Adam 

Siire Books in Bishop Montgomery's Library Rev. J. Adam 

The society continues this vear the publication of the Pioneer Register. Seve- 
fal biographical sketches, read before the Society of Pioneers, a|>peAr in this issue. 
The Society of Pioneers takes 200 copies of our Annual, for distnoutiou among its 
me m b ers . J. M. Guinn, Secretary. 



CURATOR'S REPORT 



BOOKS. 

Whole number of bonnd Tolmnes 9qS 

Number of pamphlets and paper-corared books 4115 

PAPERS AND MAGAZINES PILED POR BINDING. 

Number of daily newspapers 4 

Number of we^ly newspapers 9 

Number of monthly magaanes 5 

Number of quarterlies 9 

The society has received from the Royal College of Belles Letters of Stockholm, 
Sweden, a number of books in the Swedish language. The society has also reodyed 
three handsomely illustrated Tolumes,^e titles of which are Ustica, Canosa and Beo« 
sert These Tolumes were donated to the society by their author, His Royal and 
Imperial Highness Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria, through his publishen, 
Honrick Mercy & Sons, Prague, Austria. 

J. M. GunTN, Curator. 



TREASURER'S REPORT 



January 3, 1898, to January 3, 1899, 

1898. RBCSIPTS. 

January 3. Balance on hand as per Treasurer's Report $3^45 

Dues collected to January i, 1899 94 50 

Membership, eight members 16 00 

Paid by Pioneer Society 40 00 

Received from individuals, account, publication 45 00 

Total receipts to January 2, 1899 $232 45 

1898. ^>lSBURSBlfSNTS. 

Feb. & March. Paid printer's bill (Bowers & Son) for publica- 
tion of Annual of 1897 $129 00 

Paid Photograph company for portraits, etc. . . 10 30 

December 31. For postal cara notices of meetings 5 00 

For postage, express and other incidentals, as 

per Secretary's bill and statement 6 60 

By errors and omission in last year's report — 

one check for payment of inddentals 5 85 

Balance 75 70 

$232 45 $232 45 

Balance in hands of Treasurer 75 70 

E. Baxtbr, Treasurer. 
January 2, 1899. 



PIONEER REGISTER 



Pioneers of Los Angeles County 



OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY 

1898-99. 



BOARD OF DIBI0T0B8. 
Wm. H. WORKMAMy J. W. GiLLETTEy 

H. D. Babrows, J. M. GuiNN, 

B. S. Baton, M. Kebmer, 

Loun Boeder. 

officers. 

Wm. H. Workman President 

H. D. Barrows First Vice President 

M. Kremer Second Vice-President 

Louis Boeder Tre&surer 

J. M. GuiNN Secretary 

COMMITTEE ON liEMBBRSHIP. 

August Schmidt, M. F. Quinn, Mathew Teed. 

committee on finance. 
Geo. W. Hazard, C. N. Wilson, Joel B. Parker. 

committee on literary exercises. 

H. D. Barrows, J. M. Guinn, J. W. Gillette, 
M. F. QuiNN, Mrs. Buora T. Stephens. 

COMMITTEE ON MUSIC. 

Loms Boeder, J. C. Dotter, B. S. Baton, 
H. Kremer, Mrs. S. C. Yarnell. 



PIONEERS OF LOS ANOELES 



EXMAYOR JOHN Q. NICHOLS. 

BY H. D. BARROWS. 

(Read before the Pioneere, Feb. 1, 1898.) 

John Oregg Nichols, who senred seyeral terms as Mayor of Lot 
Aogeles in the early fifties, was bom in Canandaigna, Ontario 

county, New York, December 29, 1812. His father, Wm. Nichols, 

was a native of Edinboro, Scotland, who came to America with his 

parents when a child, settling in Middlebnry, Vt., and his mother, 

whose maiden name was Fanning, was a native of Stonington, Gt 

The subject of this sketch went with his parents in the winttt 
of 1827-8 to Fulton county. 111., where he remained till he attained 
his majority. He served through the Blackhawk Indian war in 
1832. In 1833 he went to the Galena lead mines, where he re- 
mained till 1842. In 1838 he was married to Florida Cox, by whom 
he had nine children, six of whom are still (1898) living, one of 
them, T. H. Nichols, being now Auditor of the city of Los Angeles. 

In 1842 Mr. Nichols moved with his family to Jackson Co., Iowa. 
He served as Sheriff of that county two terms. In May, 1849, with 
his family he started for California, across the plains via Great Salt 
Lake and the Cajon Pass, arriving where the town of San Bernar- 
dino now is Dec. 31, 1849. 

In crossing the plains Mr. Nichols commanded a large train of 
about 100 wagons, which he brought into the Great Salt Lake Val- 
ley in good shape about the first of September. There the train dis- 
banded, many of the members having in view the late terrible ex- 
periences of the Donner party, feared to proceed on to California 
by the northern route. 

Having consulted with some mountaineers and with returned 
Mormons as to the feasibility of the southern route, it was thought 
that a train could be taken through to Los Angeles at that time of 
year at far less risk than by the northern route. Accordingly a 
train of nearly a hundred wagons was made up, and under the lead- 
ership of Mr. Nichols, set out for that place. After traveling some 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 177 

300 miles, two mole (pack) trains overtook and passed them, and 

their animals ate np the grass along the line. The animals of Mr. 

Nichols conunenced dying for want of forage; most of the wagons 
were stranded along the route, and many of the people were com- 
Iielled to come into California on foot, or on pack animals. 

It had been thought that the train, with no bad luck, could come 
through from Salt Lake in twenty-five days; instead, the main 
body was on the road three months, and some members of the 
party, falling behind, were still longer in reaching their destination. 

The valley of Ban Bernardino at the time of Mr. Nichols' arrival 
was occupied mainly by the Lugos as a stock ranch. Mr. Nichols 
remained there a couple of months on account of illness in his fam- 
ily, he meanwhile making several trips to Los Angeles, where he 
made the acquaintance of the American residents, Steams, John 
Temple, Alexander and Melius, Wilson and Packard, etc., his in- 
tention being to go on to San BYancisco aa soon aa his family had 
regained their health. But on consulting with the above-named 
Americans, they advised him to settle in Los Angeles and aid them 
in establishing the American regime here; and he finally concluded 
to do so. Although California had come under American rule in 
1846, local government here as elsewhere throughout the Territory, 
was carried on largely according to Mexican laws and customs, as 
they had existed before the change. 

A city election was held in May, 1850, the first under the Consti- 
tntion of 1849, and Mr. Nichols was elected Recorder and Hodges 
as Mayor, as also was a Common Council of five members, consist- 
ing of John Temple, Manual Bequena, Ygnacio del Valle, Julian 
Chaves and B. D. Wilson. The office of Recorder then corresponded 
nearly to that of Police Judge; it had jurisdiction in criminal but 
not in civil cases. The Legislature of '50-'51 merged the offices of 
Mayor and Becorder, making the former ex-officio Police Judge, as 
well as Mayor. 

In May, '51, Mr. Nichols was elected Mayor, and he performtHl 
the duties of both offices. During the period of eleven years from 
1851 to 1862 he was elected as Mayor three times. During this 
time also he was elected as a member of the City Council and of 
the School Board. He aided in starting the first American private 
school in 1850, on Los Angeles street, which was taught by Dr. 



178 HISTORICAL aOCISTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

Weeks, a Ccmgregational minister, and his wife. Afterwarda the 

public schools were organized, and Mr. Nichols and John O. Wheeler 

were elected trustees, and they built the first two two-story brick 

schoolhouses, the one long known as the Bath-street Schoolhouse, 

and the other, which stood on the site of the present Bryson lUock, 

ctrner of Spring and Second streets, both of which for so man) 

2>«*ars were familiar landmarks, and centers of our city educational 

interests, but which have been since demolished. 

Mr. Nichols says he built in 1854 the first brick dwelling house 

in Los Angeles, namely his two-story residence on the west side of 

Main streiet, next south of the present site of the BuUard Block. 

He says he paid the maker of the bricks. Capt Jesse Hunter, |30 

per thousand for them. Capt. Hunter built another brick house, 

which is still standing, adjoining the residence of the late Oar. 

Downey. Capt. Hunter's brick kiln was somewhere in the rear of 

the present Potomac Block, near the foot of the hills. 

Mr. Nichols, during his incumbency as Mayor, inaugurated the 

plan of granting what were known aa ''donation lots" to actual 
settlers on the Pueblo vacant lands. It was on his official recom- 
mendation that the Common Council authorized Maj. Henry Han- 
cock to subdivide these lands outside of Ord's Survey, into 35-acre 
lots; and that in order to secure the actual settlement and improve- 
ment of these unoccupied city lands, they should be donated to any 
person who would .go upon them and make improvements to the 
extent of two hundred dollars. 

While he was Mayor, Mr. Nichols strongly (though unsuccess- 
fully) urged the Council to adopt the scheme of bringing the water 
from up the river to the top of Fort Hill to a reservoir for the sup- 
ply of the city for domestic use and the extinguishment of fires by 
gravity, etc. Afterward a company, known as the Canal and Res- 
ervoir Company, took up the idea, and, going well up the river, 
brought the water over the hills to reservoirs within the city for 
irrigation. 

After 1862 Mr. Nichols turned his attention to farming and to 
mining, etc. 

A son of Mr. Nichols, John Gregg, Jr., was the first American 
child bom in Los Angeles, i.e., whose parents were both Ameri- 
cans. The date of this youngster's birth was April 24, 1851. 

Mr. Nichols remembered well a strikiuig saying of Wm. H. Sew- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 179 

ard, the great Secretary, which he made when he visited Los An- 
geles soon after the close of the war, and which he has never seen 

published. It was uttered at a dinner tendered to Mr. Seward at 

the Bella Union Hotel, then the leading inn of Los Angeles, but 

which is now known as the St. Charles. After he had enlogized 

California, and especially Southern California, very highly, saying 

it had a bright future, etc., some one observed ''but we very much 

FIVE HISTORY CREQO 

need a railroad." Mr. Seward replied: ''Be patient, you will soon 

have four railroads, one by the southern route, one by the 35th par- 

aUel, one by the central route and one by the northern route." 

As Mr. Nichols said : "How literally this prophecy has come true." 

Daring the last few years Mr. Nichols has resided with his son 

fan this city, enjoying, notwithstanding his great age, fair health 

and a clear intellect, almost to the last. He died January 22, 1898, 

at the age of 85 years. Mrs. Nichols died May 31, 1878. 



STEPHEN O. POSTER, 

BY H. D. BARROWS. 
(Read April 4, 1898.) 

Away back in December, 1863, Mr. Poster, at my request, gave 
me a brief sketch, both of his own life and of his brother-in-law by 
marriage, Col. Isaac Williams of El Rancho del Chino. And again 
in November, 1890, he gave me fuller details relating to himself, to- 
geUier with some account of the early Alcaldes and Mayors of Los 
Angeles who preceded him and who succeeded him as the chief ex- 
ecutive officers of our city during that period. 

I hope to be able to give some account of these latter officials as 
vaeonnted by Mr. Poster, in a future paper. Mr. Poster had a won- 
detfally retentive memory, of the minutest details of life in Califor- 
nia 60 years ago. More than that, being an educated man, and 
having an eye for the picturesque, his description of events and 
penons, and of manners and customs of the pastoral period of Cal- 
ifornia history possesses a peculiar charm. And above all, the 
kindly, sympathetic spirit towards the Spanish-speaking Califor- 
nians and others of the olden times which pervaded all that he 
wrote or said concerning them, is worthy of unreserved commenda- 



180 HI8T0ICAL BOCIBTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

tion and admiration. These characteristics are well illustrated in 
tiie two papeors contributed to our society by Mr. Foster and pub- 
lished in our Annual for 1887, entitled ''The Earliest Kentucky Pio- 
neers of Los Angeles," and ''My First Procession in Los Angeles, 
March 16, 1847." Also in other writings of his as quoted in our 
annual of 1896, in the sketch of Don Antonio M. Lugo. 

Mr. Foster was bom in East Machias, Washington county, Maine, 
December 17, 1820, of English ancestry. He was educated, first in 
the district school, and then at Washington Academy; and he en- 
tered Yale College in 1836, graduating in the class of 1840, after 
which he taught school nearly four years in Virginia and Alabama. 

In 1843 he went to New Orleans and attended lectures at the Lou- 
isiana Medical College. In '44 he weoit to Jackson county, Mis- 
souri, where he practiced medicine with a Dr. Harlan. 

Id 1845 he crossed the plains to Santa F^, N. M., in company 
with an Irish schoolmaster by the name of A. J. Murphy, with a 

small invoice of goods. In October, 1845, he sold out to Murphy, 
und started for California, by way of Chihuahua and Sonora. On 
his arrival at Oposura, the news was received of the breaking out 
of the Mexican war. He remained there till June, 1846, being un- 
able to find any party coming to California; for it was out of the 
question for him to undertake the journey alone. 

He then returned to Santa F^, in company with a man and his 
wife named Kennedy, from Lowell, Mass. Kennedy had charge of 
the putting up and keeping in order of the machinery of a cotton 
mill at San Miguel, near Hermosillo, and Mrs. Kennedy had charge 
of the girls who worked in the factory. Kennedy and wife were 
going home by way of Santa F^. 

Soon after Mr. Foster and his party reached Santa F6, the 
American military forces under Gen. S. W. Kearney arrived there, 
(August, '46.) Mr. Foster obtained employment as clork in a store 
until the month of October. About that time the '^Mormon Bat- 
talion" of infantry, 500 strong, under Lieut. A. J. Smith, was 
formed. Mr. Foster was employed as interpreter of this force, of 
which Lieut.-Col. Philip St. George Cooke then assumed comtiinnd. 

The battalion set out for San Diego by way of the unsettled por- 
tions of Chihuahua and Sonora, (now Arizona.)^ The only towns 



BIOGRAPHICAL BKBTCHES 181 

they passed between the Bio Grande and the Pacifio Ocean were 
Tucson and the Pima villages. 

The jonmey was attended with many hardships, including short 
rations; for the battalion was only provisioned for sixty days, 
whereas the jonmey consumed 110 days. 

The force arrived at Ban Diego about the 20th of January, 1847. 
From there they were ordered to San Luis Bey, where they occu- 
pied the Mission buildings, which were in much better condition 
than those of the Mission of Ban Diego. 

The command reached Los Angeles March 16, 1847. It marched 
into the city on the day of the funeral of Sefiora Banchez, wife of 

Pedro Banchez, and mother of Tomas A. Sanchez, whom many of 
our older citizens still well remember. 

As Mr. Foster understood the Spanish language well, he imme- 
diately and for many years, took a prominent part in public affairs, 
both as a private citizen and in various official positions. 

He was appointed Alcalde of this city January 1, 1848, by the 
military Governor of the Territory, Col. B. B. Mason, and served 
in that capacity and as interpreter, until May 17, 1849. On the 3rd 
of Jnne of this year Oov. Biley, under instructions from Washing- 
ton, issued a proclamation to the people of California to elect del- 
egates, to meet at Monterey Sept. 1, 1849, to form a State Consti- 
tution; and Capt. H. W. Halleck, captain of engineers, U.S.A., and 
Secretary of State, wrote to Mr. Foster, requesting him to use his 
influence to have the people of the Los Angeles district hold an 
elcH^tion of delegates, to represent them in the convention. 

The election was duly held, and Abel Steams, Manuel Domin- 
giiez, Pedro O. Carrillo, S. C. Foster and Hugo Beid, natives, re- 
fipectively, of Massachusetts, California, Maine and Scotland, were 
chosen, and at the appointed time they were on hand, and assisted 
in forming a Constitution, under which California was rescued al- 
most from a state of anarchy, incident to a change of government 
and the derangement caused by the wonderful gold discoveries 
that occnrred immediately thereafter, and under which she pros- 
pered for nearly thirty years. 

Mr. Foster, in the Evening Express of March 8, 1878, gave an 
exceedingly interesting and picturesque account of how he helped 
to make the Gonstitntion of California and of his journey to Mont- 



182 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

erey, etc., which I hope to read some day, before this society. 

Of course, his services came to be very valuable to the comma- 
nity in those early years immediately after the change of govern- 
ment, when a large proportion of the p€K)ple of this city and sec- 
tion spoke only the Spanish language, and whose laws and ancient 
archives were almost wholly in that language, and therefore inac- 
cessible to the newly arrived English-speaking settlers. Mr. Foster 
served as State Senator during 1851-^53, and was twice elected 
Mayor of Los Angeles, in 1854 and in 1856, but resigned in Septem- 
ber of the latter year to take charge of the estate of his brother-in- 
law. Col. Isaac Williams of El Chino Rancho, who had just died. 

August 18, 1848, Mr. Foster was married to Dofia Maria Merced, 
daughter of Don Antonio Maria Lugo, and widow of Jos6 Peree. 
From this marriage five children were bom, three of whom died in 
infancy and two sons are now living. 

Mr. Foster was in his 78th year at the time of his death, which 
occurred in this city on the 28th of January, 1898. 

During the latter years of his life he was quite infirm, although 
he was able to walk about, and his bent, venerable figure was fa- 
miliar to many of our citizens. While his wife, who is one of the 
kindest-hearted and moat sympathetic of women, and his dutiful 
sons, would have been delighted to have had him remain at their 
home at San Antonio on the San Gabriel River, where they could 
have ministered to his wants in his old age, he seemed to prefer 
without any quarrel or real cause of dissatisfaction with them or 
anybody, so far as I can learn, to live in town rather than out in 
the country. He had lived so long in the thick of active life in th^ 
city that it apparently became irksome to him to pass his time in 
the quietude and isolation and monotony of ranch life. H's int« 
mate acquaintance with the old Spanish archives of the Pueblo, 
and with old land titles, enabled him to earn a small stipend f '*om 
title searchers, and thus modestly maintain himself and at the 
same time gratify his liking for city life in preference to the mo- 
notony of life in the country. 

Like Hugo Reid, the pioneer of San Gabriel, Stephen C. Foster, 
was in many resx)ects a remarkable man. Both these men were 
scholars, and scholars who spend their lives on the frontier are 
likely to develop peculiarities. While both were genial and "c<w- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 188 

riente," as the Spanish say, with their intimates, they were in- 
clined to reticence towards strangers and towards the world in gen- 
eral. From this cause probably they acquired the reputation with 
some people of being eccentric. With scholarly instincts, they may 
be said to have lived lives apart from their ordinary outward lives, 
a8 seen in their intercuorse with their fellows. I think this view 
accounts sufficiently for any eccentricities they may have seemed 
to exhibit 



MEMORIAL SKETCH OF DR. JOHN S. GRIFFIN, 

BY H. D. BARROWS. 

Another good man is gone. Dr. John Strother Griffin, for many 
years an eminent physician and surgeon of Los Angeles and a pio- 
neer of 1846, died August 23, 1898, at his home in East Los Anpe- 
les, at the advanced age of 82 years, nearly 50 of which were 
passed in this city. Dr. Griffin was the second pioneer educated 
physician to arrive in Los Angeles, Dr. Richard Den, who came 
in 1843, being the first. Both of these doctors being men of high 
personal character, as well as skilled in their profession, were nat- 
urally esteemed most highly, both by the native Californians and 
by the foreigners who settled here in early times; for the extensive 
demand for their professional services caused them to be widely 
known throughout Southern California. For many years, or till 
the infirmities of age compelled him to withdraw from active prac- 
tice, Dr. Griffin stood among the very foremost physicians and sur- 
geons of Los Angeles and of California, and as a citizen his stand- 
ing was no less prominent. He more than any other one was the 
father of East Los Angeles. He was one of the original incorpo- 
rators and a stockholder of both the Los Angeles City Water Co. 
and the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank. 

When this city and section were terrorized by an organized ban- 
ditti which killed Sheriff James R. Barton and party in January, 
1857, and the city waB placed under quasi martial law. Dr. Griffin by 
general consent was placed at the head of the semi-military defensive 
organization of our citizens. 

On his social side Dr. Griffin was one of the most genial of men. 
He comforted and consoled his patients, as well as cured their phys- 
ical ailments, when they were curable. Many of the older pioneers 



184 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

of this society know well how gennine was the respect and friend- 
ship which were nniversally felt for such men as Dr. Oriffin and 
Don Benito Wilson and a few others like them, by the Califomians 
and Americans who lived here in the olden time, but who now have 
nearly all passed away. It is indeed worth more than mere material 
riches to die with the respect and affection of one's neighbors, al- 
though the sordid are not always able to graap this view of the 
matter until too late or until the crisis comes that ends for them 
the drama of human life. They pile up vulgar riches as the chief good, 
which they cannot take with them either into the grave or into an- 
other world; and neglect a good name only to loam when com- 
pelled to make their exit, that they have none — or only the hollow 
mask of a good name, to leave behind them. 

Some eight or nine years ago the writer of these lines took down 
from Dr. Griffin's own lips some notes of his life which were pub- 
lished, with a fine tipple steel engraving, in the Illustrated His- 
tory of Los Angeles County. A few salient facts condensed from 
that sketch may not be without interest in this connection. 

Dr. Griffin was born at Fincastle, Virginia, in 1816. His father, 
John Caswell Griffin, who died in 1823, was a native of Virginia, 
as was his father before him. His mother, Mary Hancock, was a 
daughter of George and Margaret (Strother) Hancock, both of prom- 
inent Virginia families. She died in 1825. 

Being thus deprived of both his parents in early boyhood, he went 
to Louisville, Ky., where he lived until maturity with his maternal 
uncle, George Hancock, who gave him a classical education. In 
1837 he was graduated from the medical department of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, after which he practiced his profession at 
Louisville until 1840, when he entered the United States army as 
assistant surgeon and served as such under Gen. Worth in Florida, 
and at Fort Gibson on the southwest frontier. In 1846, being at- 
tached to the Army of the West under Gen. Kearny, with rank of 
captain, he proceeded to Santa F^ with the command, which set 
out from this place in September for California, arriving at the 
river Colorado in November, and at Warner's Ranch, in what is now 
San Diego county, Cal., Dec. 3, 1846. Dec. 6, the battle San Pas- 
qual was fought with the Mexican forces, and on the 10th the 
command, with its wounded, arrived at San Diego, where Commo- 
dore Stockton with his squadron had arrived a short time before. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 185 

On the Ist of January, 1847, the two commands, being united, with 
Dr. Griffin, the doctor as ranking medical officer, set out for Los 
Angeles. 

On the 8th the Americans met and repulsed the Meixican forces 
at the San Gabriel River, and crossed that stream some ten miles 
southeast of Los Angeles; and on the 9th another engagement took 
place at La Mesa, and on the 10th they took possession of Los An- 
geles, which then contained a population of only 3000 or 4000 souls. 

About the 12th or 13th of Jan. Gen. Fremont's forces arrived at 
Los Angeles from the north. Gen. Kearny's command was trans- 
ferred to Ban Diego, where Dr. Griffin was given charge of the gen- 
eral hospital. 

In May, 1847, he was ordered to report for duty at Los Angeles, 
under Col. J. D. Stevenson, where he remained a year, when he was 
transferred to the staff as medical officer of Gen. Persifer F. Smith. 
From 1850 to '52 he was stationed at Benicia; he was then ordered 
to accompany Maj. Heintzelman in an exx)edition from San Diego 
against the Yuma Indians on the Colorado Biver; after which he 
returned to duty at Benicia. In '53 he was ordered to report for 
duty at Washington, D. C, where he remained till 1854, when he 
resigned his commission in the army and returned to California, 
and permanently located at Los Angeles, where he resided till his 
death. 

In 1856 Dr. Griffin was married to Miss Louisa Hays, native of 
Maryland, sister of Judge Benjamin Hays, an historical character of 
Southern California. She died May 2, 1888. at the age of sixty-seven. 

Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston married a sister of Dr. Griffin. 
After his death at tlie battle of Shiloh Mrs. Johnston resided for many 
years and until her death recently, with her brother and children 
in this city, where fihe was universally held in the highest estimar 
tion. 



186 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

HENRY CLAY WILEY. 

Dr. J. C. Fletcher, a graduate of Brown Uniyersity in 1846, and 

for many years a resident of Rio de Janeiro and of Naples, Italy, 
bat now a citizeoi of Log Angeles, contributes the following data 
concerning Mr. Wiley's boyhood. He says: 

''My earliest recollections of him were in the thirties, aboat 1832. 
He was a small boy when his father came to Indianapolis. His 
father was a merchant tailor, and he was a fine-looking man. I 
went to school with two of Henry's brothers. His eldest brother 
was a man of fine parts, and a well-known citizen (now deceased) 
of Indianapolis, whose daughter married the son of Got. Wright of 
Indiana. The next older brother, James, entered the navy; and I 
last saw him as an officer, in 1853, on the U. 8. steam man-of-war 
Saranac at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was distinguished as a good 
officer and a fine, benevolent man. 

''When in 1890 I came to Los Angeles, one of the first persons to 
greet me was H. C. Wiley, and never did I have more cordial greet- 
ing or, afterward, more kindly treatment. 

"As Henry C. Wiley was contemporary with my younger broth- 
er's, 1 did not see so much of him in his boyhood days as 1 did of 
his elder brothers with whom I went to school." 

Of his later years, J. F. Burns, an early pioneer of Los Angeles, 
says: 

"Henry C. Wiley, a member of this society, passed away on 
Tuesday, October 25, 1898, which* takes away another of the old 
pioneers of Southern California who lived nearly half a century 
of his allotted 69 years in this sun-kissed country. He was bom 
in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1829; here, and later at Indianapo- 
lis, he received a liberal education, when, at the age of 18 years, 
he joined the commissary department of the United States army in 
the campaign against Mexico; and he faithfully served his country 
until the close of the Mexican war. leaving the army, he resided 
and traveled in all the coast States of Mexico, till 1852, when he 
arrived at San Diego, Cal., where he resided during the 50'8. He 
was elected and served as Sheriff of said county, with ability and 
honorably discharged the duties of his office. In the 60's, after his 
term expired, he removed to Los Angeles county, where he perma- 
nently settled. He soon became noted among his friends for his 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 187 

traits of true friendship, fraiikness and liberality. He loved out- 
door active life and sports, and was a generous giver to the needy. 
In 1868 to 1872 he was Under-Sheriff, serving with J. F. Bums, 
Hheriff of this county. In the discharge of his official duties he was 
brave and fearless, just and generous. In 1872 Mr. Wiley formed 
a partnership with D. M. Berry in the real-estate business; and 
they were the resident agents for the '^Indiana Colony," now Pasa- 
dena, "The Crown of the Valley." Through their energy and ac- 
tivity and foresight they laid the foundation of the fairest city in 
our land. Mr. Wiley was always a consistent Republican in poli- 
tics, and ever ready to render valuable service to his party . He 
was one of the pioneers who from the first saw that Los Angeles 
would be a great city, and was a judicious investor in Los Angeles 
realties. 

"He leaves a devoted widow and two daughters to mourn his de- 
mise. He was kind in word and manner and gained a wide circle of 
friends and very few, if any, enemies." 



HORACE HILLER. 



(Read before Pioneer Society June 7, 1898.) 

Since the last stated meeting of our Pioneer Society an honored 
charter member has passed away. It is fitting that a brief memo- 
rial sketch of his life should be placed among the records of the 
society. 

Horace Hiller was a native of Hudson, New York. He wan 
bom in 1844, and was the son of Henry and Henrietta Winans 
Hiller. He came to Los Angeles by rail via the southern route in 
1870. He waB engaged in the lumber business during all his resi- 
dence in Los Angeles; at the time of his death he was the president 
and manager of the Los Angeles Lumber Company. 

In 1867 he was married to Miss Abby Pearce; she with three 
children, one daughter and two sons, survive Mr. Hiller. He left 
two living brothers; one, Sidney Hiller, succeeds his brother as 
manager of the lumber company, and the other, Henry, is now in 
8t. Petersburg, Russia. 

Horace Hiller waa a man of sterling character, as all you who 
knew him well can testify. Though he was modest and quiet in 
biH ways, he had strong convictions, to which he was thoroughly 



188 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

loyal ; he was a man of fine business habits and won the respect of 
the community and of all with whom he had dealings. He re- 
sponded to all the manifold duties of good citizenship, and in his 
demise he is sincerely mourned by a wide circle of friends. 

His death occurred as the result of a lamentable accident, May 
20, 1898. 



WILLIAM BLACKSTONE ABERNETHY. 

William Blackstone Abernethy, son of James R. and Rosa Abor- 
nethy, was, on his father's side, a direct descendant of the ec<;entric 
but celebrated English surgeon. Dr. John Abemethy, (a great-grand- 
son) and on the mother's of the great English scholar, John Locke. 
His father went when but a boy to Missouri, where he laid oat the 
town of Paris in Monroe Co., whose growth and progress he care^ 
fully watched and materially assisted. Here he taught school, 
studied law (in which he made himself so thorough that he was for 
three consecutive terms elected to the oiBce of Circuit Judge.) Here 
too he established his home and raised a large family of children, of 
whom Wm. B. was one. His father was identified with the old-time 
WTiig party, his belief in its principles being strong enough to prove 
itself by works. Several negro slaves coming into his possession by 
inheritance, he, some years before the civil war, gave them their 
freedom. 

W. B. Abemethy was raised in an ideal home, one of a very happy 
family, surrounded by the best and most cultured people of the day. 
His father being a **born" musician, and an enthusiast in the art, 
which he also studied to the limit of his opportunities, his children 
were given every possible advantage in that direction, and **old si^t 
tiers" there will speak in glowing terms of their proficiency both vo- 
cally and instrumentally, "but especially Willie, who used to he car- 
ried when but a little boy to sing in neighboring towns." He had 
two brothers-in-law, Messrs. H. J. Glenn and S. E. Wilson, who 
made yearly trips across the plains bringing large bands of horses 
and mules, which they would sell at Sacramciito, returning home by 
steamer to make ready for another trip. When he wa^ abo it 16 
years old his sisters, Mrs. Glenn and Mrs. Wilson, with whora he bad 
always been a great favorite, decided to come across the plains "for 
the trip, and Will must come with them," so in March, 1853, he bade 



BIOOBAPHICAL SKETCHES 189 

farewell to the East and came "over the Rockies" to California, 
reaching Sacramento, which was then almost the beginning and 
ending of everything in the State, late in Angnst of that year. The 
Indians were numerous on the plains then, and the journey could 
only be made with large trains. The stories told by Mr. Abemethy 
of the experiences of their train were/of most thrilling interest, as 
were also his sketches of early days in the mines and on the great 
cattle ranches of Northern California, for, being a boy, with all a 
boy's enthusiasm and love of adventure, he wore spurs and learned 
to throw a laaso like the cowboys, and went prospecting with old 
miners with the greatest zeal. In 1864 he first engaged in mercan- 
tile pursuits on the Sacramento River, going afterward to the San 
Joaquin Valley, where he married Miss Laura Gibson, daughter of 
Rev. Hugh Gibson. 

In April, 1872, they came to Los Angeles. Things prospered, the 
world went well until the breaking of the '*boom," when reverses 
began coming, one by one, and then thick and fast. Business cares 
and crosses grew heavy, plans and purposes were wrecked, deep be- 
reavement came, but he never lost one iota of his gentle sweetness, 
courage or faith. That he was a true Christian no one who knew 
him ever doubted. In talking with his wife not long before he was 
taken away he said: '^Financially things have gone very hard with 
us, but I am not discouraged ... I do want to have the love 
and esteem of my fellow-men ... to be honest and true is bet- 
ter than any amount of wealth ... I think, my dear, if I could 
only feed square with the world; that I owed no man anything, I 
would be ready to go to my long home" — and God took him, very 
swiftly; before the dawn of November 1st, 1898, while talking with 
his wife in his cheeriest way. There was no time for ''sadnoss of 
farewell, no moaning of the bar when he put out to sea" — and there 
will never be any sorrow or sighing "in the pr(*sence of the King." 



NAMES OF MEMBERS ELECTED 



Since the lait Roll of Memberehip was published, Feb. z, 1898. 

Namis Agb. B[B'h Place. Arrival in Go, Rbioencb. AB.n Scats 



Anderson, Mrs. David 69 

Austin Henry C 62 

Anderson, John C 54 

Bell, Horace 67 

Biles, Albert 62 

Biles, Mrsu Elizabeth & 62 

Brossmer, Mrs. E 55 

Carter, N. C 58 

Clark, Prank S 55 

Conner, Mrs. Kate. . . . 60 

Chapman, A. B 68 

Dnrfee, James D 58 

Ensign, Elizabeth h 53 

Erarts, Myron E 68 

Franklin, Mrs. Mary A 51 

Gilbert, Harlow 58 

Gerkins, Jacob 58 

Hamilton, A. N 54 

Holbrook, J. F. 52 

Judson, A. H 59 

Moulton, Elijah 78 

McComas, Joseph E 64 

Newell, Mrs. J. G 52 

Prager, Samuel 66 

Proctor, A. A 67 

Quinn, Richard 68 

Raphael. Hyman 60 

Rose, L. J 71 

Scott, Mrs. Amanda W 67 

Stoll^^W 59 

Sl^^Tier, John h. 63 

•'^^^Tner, C. A 2 

Toberman, J. R 62 

UdeU, Joseph C 78 

Ward, James F 62 

Workman, Alfred 55 

White, Caleb E 68 

Weil, Jacob 69 

Wiggins, Thomas J 63 



Ky 

Mass 

Ohio 

Ind. 

England. 
England. 
Germany 
Mass.... 

Conn 

Germany 
Alabama. 
Illinois.. 
Missouri. 
N. Y.... 

Ky 

N. Y.... 
Germany 

Mich 

Indiana... 
N. Y.... 
Canada. . 
Virginia . 
Indiana... 
Prussia. . 

Ireland. . 
Germany 
Germany 

Ohio 

Germany 

ha. 

England. 
Virginia.. 
Vermont. 
N. Y.... 
England. 

Mass 

Germany 
Missouri. 



Jan. I, 1853 
Aug. 30, 1869 
May 24, 1873 
Oct., 1852 
July, 1873 
Jnly, 1873 
May 16, 1868 

1871 

Feb. 23, 1869 
June 22, 1871 
April 1857 
Sept. 15. 1858 
Nov. 15,1860 
Oct. 26, 1858 
Jan. I, 1853 
Nov. I, 1869 

1854 

Jan. 24, 1872 
May 20, 1873 
May 1870 
May 12, 1845 
Oct. 1872 
Jan. I, 1853 
Feby. 1854 



Dec. 1872 
Jan'y 1861 
Sept 1871 

i860 

Dec. 1859 
Oct, I, 1867 
Jan. 10, 1861 
May 8, 1873 
April, 1863 

i860 

Jan. I, 1872 
N0V.28, 1868 
Dec. 24, 186S 

1854 

Sept. 14, 1854 



641 S. Grand ave. 
31 18 Figueroaat 

Monrovia 

1337 Figneroa at 
141 S. Olive St. . 
141 S. Olive St. . 
17x2 Brooklyn av. 
Sierre Madre.. . 

Hyde Park 

J054 S. Grand av. 
San Gabriel.... 
El Monte. 
1525 Rockwood. 
Los Angeles.... 
253 Avenue 32.. 

Bell Station 

Glendale 

611 Temple 

155 Vine 

Pasadena ave.... 
East Los Angeles 

Pomona 

2417 W. Ninth.. 
Los Angeles. . . . 
416 E. Pico. 

El Monte 

451 West Lake. . 
Grand av & 4th 
589 Mission road 
844 S.Hill 

614 N.Bunker Hill 
1 301 Orange 

615 S. Figneroa.. 
St. George Hotel 
112 1 S. Grand av. 
212 Boyle ave. 

Pomona 

Pasadena 

El Monte. 



1869 

1873 
iQSo 

1873 
1873 

187X 
1869 

1855 
x«55 

1859 
1853 
x860 

1854 
187a 

1873 
1870 

X845 
1853 
185a 
X854 

i86x 
X871 
i860 

X859 
1867 
1856 

1873 

x8S9 
1850 



1849 
X853 



OrK»iuzed November 1, l^i 



I II corpora t«d Kebm«ry I^, I 




ANNUAL PUBLICATION 



istorical Society 



Southern California 



■ Soutl 

H PIONEER REGISTER 

^^^^ Los Angeles 

^^^^ft i8qq 



Published by the Society 



LOS ANGELES, CAL. 



Historical Society 



OF 



Southern California 



LOS ANGELES, 1899. 



ABEL STEARNS 



BY H. D. BARROWS. 



One of the very earliest American settlers of California, and 
for many years one of the most prominent and influential citizens 
of Los Angeles, was Abel Stearns. 

Mr. Stearns, or "Don Abel," as he was called both by the native 
Calif ornians and by the Americans — (in Spanish-speaking coun- 
tries people, high or low, rich or poor, are called by their Christian 
names, with the prefix Don or Dona) — was a native of Salem, 
Mass.. where he was born in the year 1799, just one hundred years 
ago. 

He came to Mexico in 1826, where in 1828 he was naturalized; 
and to Monterey, California, in 1829. In 1833 he settled in Los 
Angeles, which remained his home till his death, which occurred 
at San Francisco in 187 1, at the age of yi years. 

His residence was on the site of the present Baker Block; and 
it was for many years, both before and after the change of govern- 
ment, a prominent social center for Southern California. It was 
here that the beautiful daughters of Don Juan Bandini entertained 
their wide circle of acquaintances from San Diego, Santa Barbara, 
etc., at grand balls and other charming social functions characteris- 
tic of life in Spanish countries. Here Commodore Jones in 1842, 
and Captain Fremont in 1846 and '47, and other distinguished his- 



198 HIBIOBIOAL BOCUTY OP 80UTHSBN CALIFOBNIA 

torical characters at various periods were hospitably entertained. 

The house was a one-story adobe, as were all the houses here in 
the olden time, and covered the entire ground occupied by the 
pfresent block, with an extensive "patio," or inner court in the 
center. 

At once on his arrival in California, Mr. Stearns took an interest 
in the material and political welfare of the community in which he 
became an enterprising member. And because he joined with 
others, Califomians and Americans, including Alvarado, Castro, 
Captain Cooper, Hartwell, etc., in energetic opposition to the fla- 
grant misgovernment or mal-administration of Mexican Governors 
sent here; and to the sending hither of felons as soldiers in large 
numbers; and also because he joined actively in a general move- 
ment of the people, wherein they demanded of Governor Victoria 
that he should call together the Departmental Assembly in order 
that it might put in force the law of 1824, and the "Reglamento" 
of 1828, providing for the granting of public lands to citizens — he, 
Steams, incurred the enmity of Victoria, who attempted to expel 
him from the country. Whereupon the people became so exasper- 
ated with the Governor's arbitrary course, that thev arose in their 
wrath and drove him from office, compelling him to resign, and 
to leave the country. And, as if by the irony of fate, the same 
vessel on which Stearns was to have been transported, carried Vic- 
toria himself from San Diego to Mazatlan. 

If ever a people were justified in resisting oppression by revo- 
lution, the people of California of that period had just cause for 
their action in opposing the making by Mexico a *'Botany Bay" 
of California; and in protesting against the high-handed nullifi- 
cation of a national law by Governor Victoria. 

Forcible resistance to tyranny, especially after all peaceful rem- 
•edies fail, is generally accounted commendable in any people. And 
-certainly no reason can be assigned why Californians should be 
judged by any different rule. (See Bancroft, vol. 3, pp. 193 et seq., 
for the admirable manifesto of Pico, Bandini and Carrillo.) 

After settling at Los Angeles, Don Abel engaged in trading at 
the Pueblo and at San Pedro. In 1836 he was Sindico or fiscal 
agent of the town. 

In 1842 Mr. Steams sent gold (about twenty ounces) from the 
first placer mines discovered in California (to wit, on the San Fran- 
cisco rancho in this county) to the Philadeplhia mint, by Mr. Alfred 
Robinson. The particulars of this matter are related in letters 



ABEL STEARNS 199 

written by Steams and Robinson, as printed on pages 20-21 of the 
Centennial History of Los Angeles County published in 1876. 

At about this period Mr. Stearns purchased the Alamitos rancho 
with its live stock for $6000, as a foundation for his future landed 
wealth. He subsequently acquired large tracts of land, including 
the ranchos Los Alamitos, Las Bolas, La Laguna de Los Angeles, 
and a half interest in Los Coyotes. 

The first real estate acquired by him soon after his arrival, was 
the tract in this city on which the Arcadia and Baker blocks now 
stand. 

In 1845 h^ ^^^ active with many others against Governor 
Micheltorana and his "cholos," whom as convict soldiers the Gov- 
ernor had brought with him from Mexico. The full details of this 
movement furnish ample justification for the action taken by the 
people in the premises. 

In 1846 Mr. Stearns was Sub-Prefect and was appointed agent 
of the United States government by Consul Thos. O. Larkin, with 
whose plans he earnestly co-operated. 

In 1849 h^ ^^^ o^^ o^ ^^^ members of the first Constitutional 
Convention, representing the Los Angeles district, and later he 
served as Assemblyman, Supervisor, City Councilman, etc. 

Don Abel Steams eventually became one of the largest land and 
cattle owners in California, and although he lost stock heavily by 
the great two years drouth of 1863-4, and by other reverses, he left 
at his death an immense estate to his widow, now Mrs. Arcadia de 
Baker. 

Before the greath drouth of the 6o's he branded some 20,000 
calves annually, which indicated that he owned as high as 60,000 
head of cattle. 

At one time the extensive Arcadia Block, built in '58, which, it 
was reported, cost some $80,000, was mortgaged for something like 
$30,000, for which it was sold under foreclosure late in the 60's. 
But better times came in about '68, and he redeemed the block, 
having sold, as was reported, five ranches for $250,000, he still 
retaining one-fifth interest in the said ranches, 

Mrs. Steams (Dona Arcadia, now Mrs. Baker,) was the 
daughter of Don Juan Bandini and his wife Dona Dolores de Ban- 
dini, daughter of Captain Jose M. Estudillo of San Diego. Mr. 
and Mrs Steams had no children. 



A VISIT TO THE GRAND CANYON 

BY MRS. M. BURTON WILLIAMSON. 

We are told that the shrill whistle of the engine and the bustle 
of railroad cars will soon penetrate the Coconino forest that leads 
to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. Anything* that hints 
at a "timetable" is entirely out of place in the presence of this sol- 
emn, silent and magnificent exhibition of the prodigality of time. 
And after the railroad we shall expect to find trolly cars running 
up and down the canyon, claiming the distinction of running down 
the steepest grade of any electric road in the world, and air-line 
bridges spanning the distance from one dome or spur of granite to 
another. The railroad indicates progress, yet does it not seem a 
desecration, an insult to centuries of solitude? 

With its various canyons the Grand Canyon covers an area of 
several hundred miles in length. Button says its total length "as 
the river runs," is about 218 miles. 

The Grand Canyon is entered, in Arizona, by way of the Colo- 
rado Plateau. This leads into the Kaibab division, considered the 
sublimest part of the canyon. It is reached by three routes, but the 
favorite one in summer is by way of the little lumber town of Flag- 
staff. This town lies almost at the foot of the San Francisco moun- 
tains and is reached by the railroad. Leaving Flagstaff in the early 
morning a stage ride of sixty-five or seventy miles conveys the 
travelers to the rim of the Grand Canyon. 

On a day in June in 1895, a large party of Californians started 
from Flagstaff for the canyon. We occupied three large stages, 
some of the party being outside with the driver. A stage ride 
that occupies something like twelve or thirteen hours, may seem 
a tedious journey, but such did not prove the case. The ascent was 
gradual. The first half of the trip was through the Coconino forest, 
which occupies a large portion of the Colorado plateau. 

The entrance along the road presented charming vistas, with 
valleys green with verdure, groves of dark green pines alternating 
with groves of the quaking aspen whose slim white trunks and 
branches contrasted with their glossy light green leaves that 
trembled with each breeze, and, in the background the snow-capped 



A yiBIT TO THE GBAND CANYON 201 

peaks of Mt. Agassiz and Mt. Humphrey of the San Francisco 
mountains. All these give an enchanting beauty to the journey. 
Add to this landscape the glorious mountain air, odorous of pine, 
of a high altitude, and it is no wonder that buoyancy rather than 
discomfort is felt by the party. 

Along the stage line were relays where fresh horses were in 
waiting and tired ones were watered and rested. Although we had 
thoroughly enjoyed the ride so far, yet we were glad to dismount 
and stand or walk about under the shade of the pines as soon as 
the stages arrived at the first relay. 

Farther along the road was a small frame building. This was 
the half-way house where we could take a longer rest. At this 
house a hot luncheon had been prepared for us by a woman whose 
husband had been killed only two or three weeks previous. He and 
another sheepherder had quarreled over their herds. To the lonely 
woman, who could not leave the premises immediately, the advent 
of a party of hungry travelers was hailed as a relief from the 
solitude of surroundings that were now gruesome to her. The 
house was simply furnished and clean, as were also the two tiny 
children of her family of four. But, amid all her hurry of serving 
a party of almost twenty-five, including the three drivers, the hostess 
had noticed a bunch of green pods, spotted with brown, that was 
fastened in lieu of a bouquet in front of my jacket. These pods, 
gathered because they looked pretty by the wayside, she declared 
were the "loco weed" (Astragalus) considered "dangerous for man 
or beast, especially horses, to eat," so in a few moments I had 
thrown the decorative pods in the stove. 

After a slight ablution, a little of the dust was brushed off hats, 
coats and skirts. Luncheon was eaten and a trip was made to the 
little petrified forest just back of the house; for the half-way 
house stood near the edge of the forest. While the horses rested 
we started for it. As the time was limited, I walked at a brisk rate 
of speed, or rather began to walk, but in a moment's time I found 
myself out of breath and it was some time before I was able to 
breathe without panting ! 

In this little petrified forest we saw long trunks of trees of 
agatized wood (silicified wood) lying on the ground while around 
us were strewn logs and chips of the agatized wood. Trees were 
also growing in this petrified forest. In a short time specimens of 
agatized wood were collected and the stage ride was resumed. 

And now the view has changed; oflF at a distance extinct vol- 
canoes are visible and the road is strewn with volcanic rocks. These 



202 HI8T0BI04L SCXSRY OW lOUTHXIUI OALIIOBNIA 

rocks, called in Arizona "malpais/' add to the desolation. Here and 
there clumps of cactus bloom and lonely-looldng wild flowers dot 
the almost barren plain. But at a distance are pictures of attractive 
landscapes. After some time the Jack-oak appears and again tall 
pines outskirt a forest that with every mile grows more wooded, as 
we near our destination. 

Occasionally a tiny pile of stones are seen on the roadside. 
They tell the story of the mines, for in such places, we are told, some 
miner has pre-empted his claim, and the pile of stones is erected 
above his prospective gold mine. 

The wind soughing through the trees journeyed with us, the sun 
set, the night came on. At times some of the party imagined the 
canyon in view, but others saw only the golden rays of the setting 
sun as it glimmered through the pine trees. 

At nine o'clock as a lower grade was reached the Hotel with its 
many lights suddenly appeared. The hotel comprised a group of 
white tents, seventeen in ntunber, including one long dining tent and 
one little log cabin where we all stopped to register, formed a ro- 
mantic picture nestled in a little pine covered glen bewteen the hills. 
Below these hills, not more than three hundred feet away was the 
Grand Canyon. 

After eating our dinner, the guide, with a lantern to light the 
way through the pine trees, took us up one of the cliffs to take a 
view by moonlight of one of the smaller canyons into which this im- 
mense canyon is subdivided. After a walk of two or three moments 
the small pine covered hill was ascended and we stood upon the 
brink of the canyon. The Grand canyon was a surprise in every 
way. Instead of entering a stupendous gorge and gazing upward 
we were above and the canyon was below. We enjoyed the glimpse 
by moonlight and rose early the following morning to get a bettter 
view by daylight. We were surprised to find that the pine trees 
grow so close to the brink that their cones fall into the abyss below. 
And as you stand on the edge of the rim and look down you see a 
deep gorge below that is so near one is in danger of falling into it 
And stretching from thirteen to eighteen miles across, you see a pan- 
orama of jasper cities, a series of gorges and mountain ranges of 
solid rock. Each naked mountain has a different peak or summit, 
no two alike. The mountains themselves are individual in their 
shape. The prevailing color of the Grand canyon is red, a bright 
rose red, vermillion red, Indian red and varying shades of pink. 
But as the eyes become more accustomed to the color effect, green, 
gray and other colors are visible. The sublimity of the Grand can- 



A VmT TO XHB GRAMD GAMYCV 20S 

yon cannot be felt at the first sight; it increases with every view oi 
it, new forms present themselves. The mind is not prepared to ap- 
preciate the infinite variety at first, it is too colossal. Its immensity 
is felt immediately, but Uie grandeur of these jasper cities grows 
more majestic as the mind becomes accustomed to the unfamiliar 
vision. We know that in order to appreciate the best music the ear 
must be trained to distinguish mtisical harmonies, the rhythm ap- 
peals to us naturally, but the soul of music comes to us through mu- 
sical training as well as natural endowment. The eye must be edu- 
cated in order to appreciate art in its highest sense. I was re- 
minded of this when viewing the canyon. Each view of it only 
enhanced my admiration of it. This proved that the limitations of 
sight and color percepticm had prevented a full appreciation of this 
stupendous system of gorges. As I have^aid there are solid rocks 
elevated into spurs, domes and buttes wioi here a sharp pinnacle, 
there a broad amphitheater, a castle not far away and varying forms 
in every direction. 

We are told that water and frost have been the main forces that 
have carved out this system of canyons. The eroding power of the 
G>lorado river, during perhaps thousands of centuries has cut its 
way in the form of one rocky gorge after another. It seems incred- 
ible that this river, seldom, at the present time, 300 feet wide from 
shore to shore, could have been such an agent. 

As we looked down one of the deep gorges the river looked only 
like a roily brook about six feet across. Now we began to realize 
the depth of the gorge that walls the river. Although the Colorado 
river is about a mile and a quarter below the rim of the canyon it is 
necessary, in order to reach it, to go down a trail of over seven miles 
in length. 

At an altitude of seven thousand feet the descent down the trail 
appears no small undertaking. Only a small proportion of those 
who go to the Grand cayon ever make the descent Visitors usually 
content themselves with walking around the rim of the canyon. Of 
our party of 23 who started down only 12 made the descent to the 
river and ten of these were gentlemen. On the third day of our ar- 
rival we made the descent down the trail. 

After an early breakfast our party started, first taking a walk 
through the pine woods across beds of blue lupines in full bloom and 
all met at the log cabin of Hance, the guide, who was waiting at the 
rim of the canyon with his mules saddled for the journey. Besides 
the mounted travelers there were foot passengers. As the old trail, 
near the guide's cabin, had been abandoned a ride around part of the 



204 HIBTOBIGAL 80GIBTT OF 80DTHSBK CALIFORNIA 

rim was necessary before the descent was made, then single file, 
mules, men and women began the downward journey, for none were 
mounted at first; as the zigzag trail was too steep to go down other- 
wise than on foot. At a signal from the guide the mules are 
mounted. On the way the precipitous trail is dotted here and there 
with flowers. The shallow soil on the hard, red sandstone is suf- 
ficient for the scarlet lobelia, painted cup (Castillea), blue flax 
(Unum), and other red, blue, purple and yellow flowers. Out on 
rocky ledges the ever present prickly pear cactus (opuntid) and the 
bright scarlet flowers of the mamillaria cactus are seen. 

For almost a mile down the trail the view of this part of the 
Kaibab plateau is indescribably rich in color effect. There is still 
the predominance of pink and vermillion red. With every curve 
downward of the serpentine trail the view is changed. We are filled 
with reverential awe as we see before us the work of a thousand cen- 
turies of physical energy exhibited in the dynamic power of stream 
and rain erosion. 

As the defile is now made from one mountain side to another 
the scene narrows, the broad vistas of rocky ranges are hidden by 
stupendous mountains of granite that rise abruptly on either side, 
Down, down the rocky gorge our eyes try to scan below until the 
brain grows dizzy at the depth visible. 

"Do you see,'' says the guide, "those little green bushes at the 
foot of that gorge on the left ?'* "They are cottonwood trees three 
feet in diameter. I know for I have been there." No wonder we 
can hardly keep our seat on the saddle as we scan the distance below 
us. 

And now the zigzag trail gives place to long circling trails that 
outline the base of one mountain after another. The foot travelers 
are nowhere visible, only the riders are seen following each other in 
single file deeper and deeper down the mountain road. 

The river is nearing, we hear its roar and the splashing of the 
water-falls. 

And now the Colorado river is before us. 

To one accustomed to the Father of Waters, the Colorado river 
appears but a narrow stream. It is not red, but muddy enough to 
compare favorably with the Missouri in its muddiest passages. 
The thought of navigators going down the stream through the can- 
yon makes one tremble, for it is so rocky, so turbulent, so shut in by 
one canyon after another that the wonder grows how anyone could 
navigate its waters and live to tell the tale. 

Juniper and mesquite (prosopsis rub esc ens) trees, the kind our 



A VISrr TO THB GRAND CANYON 206 

guide calls "cat's claws" — ^because this species of mesquite has sharp 
thorns on it — ^plenty of hot sand, a deserted looking tent belonging 
to the guide, a wooden bench, two hungry looking cats, these are 
the local surroundings at the foot of the trail by the river. Above 
and around us are the mountains. 

We wash our hands in the Colorado river, bathe our faces, col- 
lect a few pebbles from the shore, and all repair to such shade as the 
juniper trees afford us, near the old tent. We sit on the bench and 
try to eat a luncheon prepared for us at the hotel at the rim of the 
canyon. It may be we are not hung^ry, only thirsty, for the water 
from the river is more acceptable than the luncheon, consisting as it 
does of bread, ham spread with mustard, hard boiled eggs and 
olives. We feed some of it to the cats. 

The journey down has been a continued pleasure, a picnic, but 
the journey back again was for the most part a labored effort. The 
high altitude caused a shortness of breath, a rapid beating of the 
heart and aching of the limbs whenever some steep ascent made it 
necessary to dismount from the mules and climb the trail. Some- 
times when riding, Stephen, the g^y mule, would forage for food, 
sage brush (artemisia) and bunch grass, in the most hazardous parts 
of the incline trail, often as he turned a sharp comer down and out 
would go his head, but where his hind feet could find a resting place 
no one could tell, fear suggested that it might be at the bottom of 
the canyon, but the sure-footed beast never lost the beat of the trail. 

Each traveler had filled his bottle with water at the river and the 
guide had filled his canteen, but hollow bottomed wine bottles can 
contain but a small supply of water, and many of our party realized 
as never before what thirst was. At five o'clock in the afternoon 
the last rider had gained the summit, having been below the rim of 
the canyon since half-past eight o'clock in the morning. 



nUY I LUSTRE AYUNTAMIENTO 

(Most Ulostriotui Ayuntamienvo, or Municipftl Coanoil of Lot Angtlei) 

BY J. M. GUINN. 

How was the municipality or corporation of Los Angeles gov- 
erned under Spanish and Mexican rule? Very few of its present 
inhabitants, I presume, have examined into its form of government 
and the laws in force before it came into possession of the United 
States. And yet its early laws and government have an important 
bearing on many questions in our civic affairs. The original titles 
to the waters of the river that supplies our city; to the lots that some 
of us own, and to the acres that we till, date away back to the days 
when King Carlos III swayed the destinies of the might Spanish 
empire; or to that later time when the cactus perched eagle of 
Mexico spread its wing^ over California. There is a vague 
impression in the minds of many, derived, perhaps from Dana's 
"Two Years Before the Mast," and kindred works, or from the tales 
and reminiscences of pioneers who came here after the discovery 
of gold that the old pueblo had very little government except mob 
rule; and that California was given over to revolution and anarchy 
under the Mexican regime. Such impressions are as false a-i ' 
are unjust. There were but comparatively few capital crimes com- 
mitted in California under the Spanish domination or under the 
Mexican rule. 

The era of crime in California began with the discovery of g^ld. 
There were no Joaquin Murietas or Tiburcio Vasquezes before the 
days of '49. It is true there were many revolutions during the 
Mexican regime, but these, in nearly every case, were protests 
against the petty tyrannies of Mexican-born governors. California, 
during the time it was a Mexican province, suffered from bad gov- 
ernors very much as the American colonies did before our revolu- 
tionary war. The descndants of revolutionary sires would resent as 
an insult the imputation that their forefathers were the promoters 
of anarchy. The California revolutions were more in the nature of 
political protests than real revolutions. They were usually blood- 
less affairs. In the half dozen or more revolutions occurring in the 



mnr ild0tre AYUMTAMnorro 207 

twenty years preceding the American conquest, and resulting in four 
battles, there were but three men killed and six or seven wounded. 

While there were political disturbances in the territory, and 
several governors were deposed and sent back to Mexico, the munic- 
ipal governments were well administered. I doubt whether the mu- 
nicipality of Los Angeles has ever been governed better or more eco- 
nomically under American rule, than it was during the last twenty- 
five years that the most illustrious Ayimtamiento controlled the civic 
affairs of the town. Los Angeles had an Ayimtamiento under 
Spanish rule, organized in the first years of her existence, but it had 
very little power. The Ayuntamiento or Municipal Council at first 
consisted of an Alcalde (Mayor), and two Regidores (Cotmcil- 
men) ; over them was a quasi-military officer, called a comisionado 
— a sort of petty dictator or military despot, who, when occasion re- 
quired or inclination moved him, embodied within himself all three 
departments of government — ^judiciary, legislative and executive. 
After Mexico became a republic, the office of comisionado of the 
pueblo was abolished. The membership of the Ayuntamiento of 
Los Angeles was increased until at the height of its power it con- 
sisted of a first Alcalde, a second Alcalde, six Regidores, a secretary 
and a Sindico. The Sindico seems to have been a general utility 
man. He acted as City Attorney, Tax and License Collector and 
Treasurer. The Alcalde was president of the Council, Judge and 
Mayor. The second Alcalde took his place when the first was ill 
or absent. The Regidores were numbered from one to six, and 
ranked according to number. The Secretary was an important per- 
sonage. He kept the records, and was the only paid member except 
the Sindico, who received a commission on his collections. 

The jurisdiction of the Ayuntamiento of Los Angeles, after the 
secularization of the missions, extended from the limits of San Juan 
Oq>istrano on the south to and including San Fernando on the 
north, and eastward to the San Bernardino mountains— extending 
over an area now comprised in four counties and covering a terri- 
tory as large as the State of Massachusetts. Its authority was as 
extensive as its jurisdiction. It g^nted town lots and recom- 
mended to the governor grants of lands from the public domain. In 
addition to passing ordinances for the government of the pueblo, 
its members acted as the executive officers to enforce them. It com- 
bined within itself the powers of a Board of Health, a Board of 
Education, a Police Commission, and a Street Department. Dur- 
ing the civil war between Northern and Southern California, it 
raised and equipped an army and declared itself the superior gov- 



208 HISTORICAL 0OCIXTY OF BOUTHSRN OAUFOBiriA 

eming power of the southern half of the territory. The members 
served without pay, but if a member was absent from a meeting 
without a good excuse he was fined $3. The sessions were con- 
ducted with great dignity and decorum. The members were re- 
quired to attend their public functions "attired in black apparel, so 
as to add solemnity to the meetings." 

The Ayuntamiento was spoken of as the "Most Illustrious" in 
the same sense that we speak of the "Honorable City Council," but 
it was a very much more dignified body than our City CoundL 
Taking the oath of office was a solemn and impressive affair. The 
junior R^idor and the Secretary introduced the member to be 
sworn. "When he shall kneel before a crucifix placed on a table or 
dais, with his right hand on the Holy Bible, then all the members of 
the Ayuntamiento shall rise and remain standing with bowed heads, 
while the Secretary reads from the oath prescribed by law; and on 
the member saying, 'I swear to do, etc' the President will answer: 
'If thou so doest, God will reward thee; if thou doest not, may He 
call thee to account.' " As there was no pay in the office, and its 
duties were numerous and onerous, there was not a very large crop 
of aspirants for Councilmen in those days, and the office usually 
sought the man. It might be added that when it caught the right 
man it was loath to let go of him. 

Notwithstanding the gfreat dignity and formality of the old- 
time Regidores, they were not above seeking the advice of their con- 
stituents, nor did they assume superior airs, as some of our later 
statesmen do. There was in their legislative system an upper house 
or court of last appeal, and that was the people themselves. When 
there was a deadlock in their Council or when some question of 
great importance to the community came before them, and they were 
divided as to what was best to do, or when some crafty politician 
was attempting to sway their decision to obtain personal gain at the 
expense of the general public, then the "alarma publica," or the 
"public alarm" was sounded by beating the long roll on the drtim, 
the citizens were thus summoned to the Hall of Sessions, and any 
one hearing the alarm and not heeding it was fined $3. When the 
citizens were convened, the President of the Ayuntamiento, speak- 
ing in a loud voice, stated the question, and the people were given 
"public speech.'* Every one had an opportunity to make a speech. 
Torrents of eloquence flowed, and when all who wished to speak had 
had their say the question was decided by a show of hands. The ma- 
jority ruled, and all went home happy to think the country was safe, 
and they had helped save it. 



MUT ILU8TBB AYUNTAMIBNTO 209 

Some of the ordinances for the government of the pueblo passed 
by the old R^dores were quaint, but not amusing to the culprits 
against whom they were directed. The "Weary Willies" of that 
day were compelled to tramp very much as they are now ; and if they 
did not find work in three days from the time they were ordered to 
look for it, they were fined $2 for the first offense; $4 for the second, 
and for the third they were provided with a job. Article 2 of an 
ordinance passed in 1844 says : "All persons without occupation or 
known means of living shall be deemed to come under the law of 
vagabonds, and shall be punished as the law directs." The Ayunta- 
miento ordered a census taken of the vagabonds. The census re- 
port showed twenty-two vagabonds, eight genuine and fourteen or- 
dinary. It is to be regretted that the Regidores did not define what 
constituted a genuine and what an ordinary vag. 

The A)runtamiento also regulated the social functions of the old 
pueblo. Ordinance 19: "A license of $2 shall be paid for all 
dances, except marriage dances, for which permission shall be ob- 
tained from the Alcalde." The festive lover who went forth to ser- 
enade his lady love without a permit from the Alcalde was subject 
to a fine of $1.50. If he tried it a second time the fine was doubled, 
and the third offense landed him in the guard house. Here is a 
trade union regulation nearly sixty years old : Ordinance 7 : "All 
grocery, clothing and liquor houses are prohibited from employing 
any class of servants foreign to the business without verbal or writ- 
ten stipulation from their former employers. Any one acting con- 
trary to the above shall forfeit all right to claim reimbursement." 
Occasionally the Ayuntamiento had lists of impecunious debtors and 
dead beats made out and published. Merchants and tradesmen 
were warned not to give these fellows credit. 

The old pueblo had its periodical smallpox scares. Then the 
Councilmen had to act as a Board of Health; there were no physi- 
cians in the town. In 1844 the disease became epidemic, and the 
A)runtamiento issued a proclamation to the people, and formulated 
a long list of hygienic rules and regulations to be observed. The 
object of the proclamation seemed to be to paint the horrors of the 
plague in such vivid colors that the people would be frightened into 
observing the Council's rules. Some of the Ayuntamiento's rules 
might be adopted and enforced now with good effect. The procla- 
mation and the rules were ordered read by a guard at each house 
and before the Indian huts. I give a portion of the proclamation 
and a few of the rules : 

"That destructive power of the Almighty, which occasionally 



ilO HISTORICAL SOaBTT OF SOUTHKHM OALIFOBNIA 

punishes man for his numerous faults, destroys not only tdngdoms, 
cities and towns, leaving many persons in orphanage and devoid of 
protection, but goes forth with an exterminating hand, and prejrs 
upon science, art and agriculture — ^this terrible plague threatens thb 
unfortunate department of the grand Mexican nation, and seems 
more fearful by reason of the small population which cannot fill one- 
twentieth part of its territory. What would become of her if this 
eminently philanthropic Ayuntamiento had not provided a remedy 
partly to counteract these ills ? It would bereave the town of the 
arms dedicated to agriculture (the only industry of the country), 
which would cease to be useful, and in consequence misery woukl 
prevail among the rest The present Ayuntamiento is deserving of 
praise as it is the first to take steps beneficial to the community and 
the country." 

Among the hygienic rules were orders to the "people to refrain 
from eating peppers, and spices that stimulate," "to wash all salted 
meats before using," "all residents in good health to bathe and 
cleanse themselves once in eight days," "to refrain from eating un- 
ripje fruit," "to bum sulphur on a hot iron in their houses for fumi- 
gation." Rule 4: "All saloon-keepers shall be notified not to al- 
low the gathering of inebriates in their saloons under penalty of $5 
fine for the first offense, and closing the place by law for the second 
offense." "All travelers on inland roads were compelled to halt at 
the distance of four leagues from the town and remain in quarantine 
three days, during which time they shall wash their clothes." Vac- 
cination was enforced then as now. 

The Alcalde's powers were as unlimited as those of the Ayunta- 
miento. They judged all kinds of cases and settled all manner of 
disputes. There were no lawyers in the old pueblo to worry the 
judges, and no juries ot subvert justice and common sense by anom- 
alous verdicts. 

Sometimes the Alcalde was Judge, jury and executioner — all in 
one. 

At the session of the Ayuntamiento, March 6, 1837, Jose Sepul- 
veda. Second Alcalde, informed the members "that the prisoners 
JuHano and Timoteo had confessed to the murder of Yg^nacio Or- 
tega, which was deliberated and premeditated." "He said he had 
decided to sentence them to be shot and also to execute them to- 
morrow, it being a holiday when the neighborhood assembles in 
town. He asked the members of the Illustrious Ayuntamiento to 
express their opinion in the matter, which they did, and all were of 
the same opinion " 



mr TLmrRK atuktamiknto 211 

"Senor Sepulveda said he had already solicited the services of the 
Reverend Father at San Gabriel, so that he may come today and ad- 
minister spiritual consolation to the prisoners." 

At the meeting of the Ayuntamiento, two wedcs later — March 
^o, 1837, the record reads: "Second Alcalde Jose Sepulveda 
thanked the members for acquiescing in his decision to shoot the 
prisoners Juliano and Timoteo, but after sending his decision to the 
Governor, he was ordered to send the prisoners to the general gov- 
ernment, to be tried according to law by a council of war; and he 
had complied with the order." 

The prisoners, I infer, were Indians. While the Indians of the 
pueblo were virtually slaves to the rancheros and vineyardists, they 
had certain rights which white men were compelled to respect. The 
Ayuntamiento had granted to the Indians a portion of the pueblo 
lands near the river for a rancheria. At a meeting of the Ayunta- 
miento the Indians presented a petition stating that the foreigner 
Juan Domingo (John Sunday), had fenced in part of their land; 
and praying that it be returned to them. The members of the 
Council investigated the cause of the complaint and found John Sun- 
day guilty as charged. So they fined Juan $12 and compelled him 
to set this fence back to the line. 

The Indians were a source of annoyance to the Regidores and 
the people. There was always a ntmiber of the neophytes or Mis- 
sion Indians under sentence for petty misdemeanors and drunken- 
ness. They filled the chain gang of the pueblo. Each Regidor 
had to take his weekly turn as Captain of the chain gang and super- 
intend the work of the prisoners. 

The Indian village known as the Pueblito, or little town, down 
by the river, between what are now First street and Aliso, was the 
plague spot of the body politic in the old pueblo days. Petition 
after petition came to the Council praying for the removal of the 
Indians beyond the limits of the town. Finally, in 1846, the Ayun- 
tamieto ordered their removal across the river to a place known as 
the "Aguage de Los Avilas" — ^the spring of the Avilas — and the 
site of their former village was sold to their old-time enemy and 
persecutor, John Sunday, the foreigner, for $200, which was to be 
expended for the benefit of the Indians. Governor Pico, on the au- 
thority of the territorial government, borrowed the $200 from the 
Council to pay the expenses of raising troops to suppress Castro, 
who, from his headquarters at Monterey, was supposed to be fo- 
menting another revolution, with the design of overthrowing Pico 
and making himself Governor. If Castro had any such designs, the 



212 HIBTOBIGAL aOCnTT OF SOUTHERN CAUFOBHIA 

American frustrated them by taking possession of the country for 
themselves. Pico and Castro, wiUi their req>ective armies, re- 
treated to Los AngdeSy but the Indians' money never came back any 
more. "The foreign adventurers of the United States of Uk 
north/' when they gained possession of the old pueblo abated the 
Indian nuisance by exterminating the Indian. 

The last recorded meeting of the Ayuntamiento under Mexican 
rule was hdd July 4, 1846, and its last recorded act was to give 
Juan Domingo, the foreigner, a title to the pud[>lito— the lands 00 
which the Indian village stood. Could the irony of fate have a 
sharper sting ? The Mexican, on the birthday of American liberty, 
robbed the Indian of the last acre of his ancestral lands, and the 
American, a few days later, robbed the Mexican that robbed the In- 
dian. The Ayuntamiento was revived in 1847 ^fter the ccmquest of 
the city by the Americans, but it was not the "Most Illustrious" of 
former times. The heel of the conqueror was on the neck of the 
native; and it is not strange that the old motto of Mexico which ap- 
pears so often in the early archives, Dios y Libertad (God and lib- 
erty) was sometimes abbreviated in the later records to "God and 
etc." The Secretary was sure of Dios but uncertain about Libertad. 



DON YQNACIO DEL VALLE 

BY H. D. BAHROWS. 

Among the many interesting characters of early Los Angeles 
whom I knew, was Don Ygnacio del Valle. Although, compara- 
tively speaking, I had only a slight acquaintance with Don Ygnacio, 
I saw him frequently. I knew of his general character and the 
warm regard in which he was held by his intimates and by the com- 
munity in which he was prominent for so many years, to greatly ad- 
mire and respect him for his sterling qualities as a man and a citi- 
zen. In person, he was of medium height, rather stout, with pleas- 
ing features, and his manners, dignified, courteous and gentle. He 
has been dead almost twenty years, but I venture to say that all who 
knew him who survive him retain only pleasant memories concern- 
ing him. 

Judge Ygnacio Sepulveda, a former District Judge of Los An- 
geles county, who knew Mr. del Valle well, wrote a memorial sketch 
of him on the occasion of his death, which occurred in April, 1880. 
And, though this sketch was published at the time, it will doubt- 
less be of interest to many others of today, besides the members of 
our Historical Society, to learn what Judge Sepulveda had to say 
of his friend, inasmuch as something like 90,000 people have come 
to Los Angeles since Mr. del Valle's death. 

Judge Sepulveda says : 

« 4c 4c 4c j)qj^ Ygnacio del Valle was bom in the State of 
Jalisco, Mexico, on the first of July, 1808. He received a liberal 
education, his parents having been persons of wealth and position. 
In the year 18 18 depredations were committed on the coast towns 
of California by pirates under the command of a desperado named 
Bouchard. To protect the country two military companies, one 
from San Bias, were sent to California by the Mexican government 
in 18 19. Don Antonio del Valle, father of Don Ygnacio, was Lieu- 
tenant of the San Bias company. Six years after the arrival of Don 
Antonio in California, he sent for his son, Ygnacio, who landed in 
Monterey on the 27th of July, 1825. In March, 1828, Don Yg- 
nacio entered the service as Second Lieutenant, being attached to the 



214 HISTORICAL 80CIJBTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

Staff of General Echeandia, Governor of California, with headquar- 
ters at San Diego, remaining there until 1833, discharging various 
functions at that place, as Captain in command of the place and 
chief custom house officer. 

"On the arrival of Governor Figueroa in 1833 Lieutenant dd 
Valle was transferred to Monterey, where he continued to discharge 
his duties on the staff of Governor Figueroa until the latter's death 
in 1836, when, on account of the insurrection led by Castro and 
Alvarado against the government represented by Gutierrez, Lieu- 
tenant del Valle, unwilling to take part in the movement, remained 
separated from the service until 1840, when he obtained his dis- 
charge. 

"In 1834, Don Ygnacio was appointed Commissioner by Gov- 
ernor Figueroa in the secularization of the missions. He fully car- 
ried out his orders with respect to the missions of San Gabriel, Santa 
Cruz and Dolores. In '42 he was appointed juez of the mining dis- 
trict of San Francisquito. In 1845 he was a member of the Junta 
Departmental, or Departmental Assembly of California, and in 1846 
he was appointed Treasurer of the Department, occup5ring said of- 
fice until the United States took possession of the country. In 1850 
he was Alcalde of Los Angeles, and on the first election under 
American rule, he was elected Recorder of the county, and in 1852 
was member of the Assembly from Los Angeles county." 

After 1 861 Don Ygnacio resided on his rancho at Camulos with 
his family, "devoting his time to the rearing and proper education 
of his children, and to the development of his beautiful domain." 

Don Ygnacio was twice married, his second wife being a daugh- 
ter of Cerbol Varelas. No issue of the first marriage survives. 
His widow still resides on Camulos rancho. The eldest of their six 
children is Hon. Reginaldo F. del Valle, an attorney of this city, 
ivho since the death of his father has successively represented Los 
Angeles county in both the Assembly and the State Senate. A 
daughter of Don Ygnacio is married to J. F. Forster, son of the 
Pioneer, Mr. John Forster, formerly of the rancho of Santa Mar- 
garita. 

All who knew Mr. del Valle in his lifetime will sympathize with 
and indorse the following eloquent and true words of Judge Sepul- 
veda concerning his friend, the subject of this sketch : 

"There was much in his life to engage our affection and respect 
Few men have impressed upon the memory of their friends a live- 
lier sense of excellence and unsullied virtue. In the private and do- 
mestic circle he was greatly beloved. He was confiding and affec- 



DON YGNAGIO DEL VALUE 216 

tionate. He possessed an enlightened benevolence and a warm 
sensibility, always eager to advance those who were within the 
sphere of his influence. He was a man of inflexible honor and in- 
tegrity, a devout lover of truth, and conscientiously scrupulous in 
the discharge of his duties. * * * Xhe tears that fall upon his 
grave are unstained by any mixture of bitterness for frailty or for 
vice. He lived as a true man would wish to live. He died as a 
good man would wish to die." 



EARLY CLUB LIFE IN LOS ANQELES 

BY JANE E. COLLIER. 

(Read before the Friday Morning Club, October 4, 1895, by Miss 
Jane E. Collier. — Published by permission of the author. ) 
The Friday Morning Club is scarcely yet old enough to toast 
itself on its birthdays or banquet itself on anniversaries. Modesty 
forbids such demonstrations in one so young. But while we arc 
waiting for time to make fast our foundations, strengthen our 
wavering wills and make clear our purposes, it might not be amiss 
for us to be also looking about for some reputable ancestors. If we 
could by searching find out a few club grandmothers who would be 
a credit to us and upon whose shoulders we might lay at least some 
of the burdens as well as the honors of our club life it might ease our 
minds of any fears of a mushroom existence and encourage us to be- 
lieve that there is in us life eternal. If we can find any trace of 
having evolved from those early Woman's Clubs of Los Angeles we 
are entitled to rejoice in the discovery, as one rejoices in finding a 
long-lost parent. It furnishes us a family tree at once, and having 
found a branch upon which to hang the Friday Morning Club we 
can proceed at once to reckon our birthdays and make preparations 
for mild festivities, befitting one who, having ancestors, is not to be 
looked upon lightly or frowned down unceremoniously. 

We are entitled to claim some kinship, I think, to what was, I 
believe, the first woman's club of Los Angeles, organized April 13th, 
1878, seventeen years ago, in Dr. Lockhart's parlors. Mrs. C. M. 
Severance was made President: Mrs. B. C. Whiting, Vice-Presi- 
dent; and Mrs. M. D. Spalding, Secretary and Treasurer. All 
three of these ladies are at present officers of the Friday Morning 
Club. The Treasurer's book shows a membership of twenty-five at 
the beginning. Many of the names may also be found on the books 
of the Friday Morning Clnb. Among them are: M. Seymour, 
Mrs. S. D. Furrey, Mrs. C. B. Jones, Miss Pigne (now Mrs. Wood), 
Miss Brousseau, Mrs. M. C. Graham and Miss Collier. 

What this Woman's Club was for and what it was going to do 
were as vital questions then as they are now in reference to our own 



XABLT CLUB LIFE IN LOS ANGELBB 217 

club. It was accused of being progressive, and there was a sus- 
picion at least in the "legal male mind" that its members might at 
any moment adopt bloomers as a club costtune. Yet the constitu- 
tion and by-laws were inoffensively feminine and conservative, there 
being no hint in them of that deadly reformatory spirit that is so 
ruinous to the peace and stagnation of society in general. The con- 
stitution simply recited that "the object of this association shall be, 
primarily, to become an organized social center for united thought 
and action, and, ultimately, to furnish a central resting place for 
the convenience of its members." 

The first meetings were held in the parlor of Union Hall, which 
was on Spring street nearly opposite the old Court House site. The 
place of meeting was at that time considered a trifle suburban. I 
1 emember that I entered the club hall for the first time with consider- 
able fear and trembling as it was my first acquaintance with a certain 
"eminent woman of our age" except as I had known her through 
the pages of a bulky g^een book in my mother's library : Mrs. C. 
M. Severance. She was the central figure and moving spirit in 
those early club days. From her many of us got our first ideas of 
what club life ought to be and might be. If we have not yet reached 
either her ideal or our own we trust that we are at least in the morn- 
ing of realization, and that the full light of success may soon break 
upon us. The club work of those early days did not vary ma- 
terially from the work of today, though our numbers were small 
and our programmes did not materialize with unvarying certainty. 

I believe the first paper I heard read in that club was one by Mrs. 
Chapin on "The Importance of Protecting Home Industries." The 
Southern California Fruit Packing Company was then just strug- 
gling into existence and the writer urged us to take it under our fos- 
tering care. I doubt not that it owes its present prosperity to our 
timely interest. 

Mrs. Whiting was kinder to us then than she is now, and read 
papers to us on the importance of cultivating a love of agricultural 
pursuits : Industrial Education, in fact. But that was before Mrs. 
Wills had deserted art and taken to work of which we will speak 
later. We have reason to congratulate ourselves that labor has al- 
ways had able advocates among us. 

And I remember that Miss Stevens gave us a paper on dress re- 
form with practical illustrations. She had evolved some sort of a 
Gredc gown from her classical brain and, producing this wonderful 
creation, she subjugated Miss Seymour into a dimimy upon which 



218 HIBTOBIOAL 80CIBTY OF 80UTHS&N OALHOBNIA 

to display its charms. It was supposed to be less objectionable than 
the short skirts, the bicycle not having yet appeared as a reason for 
their existence, and, of course, the mere matter of health and con- 
venience counted for nothing in their favor. It was not until 
pleasure demanded them that they dared to appear upon our streets. 
But let us not lose heart though a reform in street dress is brought 
about by love of a pastime rather than by force of common sense; 
at least the result is gxx>d; let us clasp that fast to our fainting 
hearts and be comforted. Miss Stevens bent her energfies toward 
compromise, but today proves that it was a bicycle and not com- 
promise that was needed. 

One of the reformatory measures undertaken by the Woman's 
Club of '78 was an attempt to have a competent, and in every way 
desirable woman made librarian of the city library. Miss Pigne, 
now Mrs. Wood, was our candidate. We went in full force, 
twenty in all, before the honorable body having the power to make 
the appointment, with our petition. They listened to us in re- 
spectful silence and then requested us to retire, which we did, grace- 
fully, of course. They then promptly elected Pat G)nnolly librarian, 
as previously "fixed." While we could not approve of the appoint- 
ment we took what cold comfort we might in an approving con- 
science and continued our fight as we have done to this day without 
effective ammunition, which is the ballot. We may not always use 
it when once it is granted, but I think we will occasionally be able 
to bring down some game with it. Some advance has certainly 
been made in our city library, however, since the reign of Mr. Con- 
nolly, fifteen years ago, for since that time its work has been con- 
fided to the care of capable women who, we hope, may continue to 
administer it with satisfaction to the public and credit to them- 
selves. 

Perhaps one of the most noteworthy social events in our early 
club life occurred January 9th, 1879, in Union Hall. On that occa- 
sion the club members gave a dramatic burlesque of their meetings. 
The burlesque was written by one of the most talented members^ 
Miss Stevens, now a teacher in Oakland. The club was at that time 
divided into four sections : art, education, work and discussion, with 
an occasional fifth day for recreation. Each section was most roy- 
ally travestied. In the old programme which I have before me the 
names of those who took part are so skillfully disguised that I am 
thrown back upon my memory to recall them: Mrs. Bradfield, 
Mrs. Spalding, Mrs. Chloe B. Jones, Miss Seymour, Mrs. M. C. 
Graham and Miss Collier occur to me. If the audience took the 



SABLY OLUB LIFE IN LOB ANQELE8 219 

travesty seriously the fault could not have been due to the acting, 
though, strange to say, none of these ladies have since attained to 
any eminence in dramtaic art. 

This pioneer club must have had frequent leanings toward 
things in "lighter vein," for in addition to its efforts in the dramatic 
art I find in searching through old club manuscript that they once 
perpetrated the staring innovation of electing a man to associate 
membership. The gentleman was Mr. C. W. Gibson, and the honor 
was doubtless conferred for love and affection : qualities rare in men 
toward women's clubs. The paper conferring the degree has fallen 
into my hands and reads as follows : 

"To whom it may concern : This is to certify that Mr. C. W. 
Gibson has been examined as to his genealogical, physiological, 
pschycological and phrenological character and found worthy, and 
as there is a prestunption that equal satisfaction would follow the 
investigation of his biology, osteology, neurology, plutocracy and 
representative democracy : — we, the ladies of the Woman's Club of 
Los Angeles, have, "in full conclave, unanimously, in maxima con- 
cordia, and full regalia, elected him by our most sacred rites of hie, 
haec, hoc; hocus, pocus, locus; 2Lndsum, es, est, to membership asso- 
ciate of the most ancient and honorable body, known in history as 
the Woman's Qub of Los Angeles, and we call upon the thirty-two 
points of the compass, the zenith and nadir, and the universe in gen- 
eral, to recognize said Mr. C. W. Gibson as entitled to all the honors 
and privil^es of our society. In proof of genuineness we append 
our seal. Mrs. Lucy Jenkins, President. Mrs. Baxter, Secretary." 

Alas ! there is no record of the Friday Morning Club ever having 
admitted men as associate members, but we offer as excuse for this 
neglect the same one that they offer for not granting us the ballot : 
"They do not want it." 

I have not been so fortunate as to find the minutes of those early 
meetings in '79 and '80 and have therefore had to fall back upon 
my treacherous memory for many of these incidents, but there are 
doubtless a number of ladies here this morning who can recall many 
things of interest that I have omitted. 

It is certain that the Friday Morning Qub has in it some of the 
same blood that flowed in the veins of that early Woman's Club, 
and -s entitled to claim relationship with it. So far as the books 
show which I have access to, this venerable club grandmother must 
have died somewhere in 1880. Death was probably caused by Mrs. 
C. M. Severance going east; that was a chock that early club life 
was scarcely strong enough to resist. 



220 HISTORIOAL aOdlSTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

From 1880 to 1885 there seems to have been a t>reak in dub 
life in Los Angeles. At least I have failed to secure any records 
of that time, but a revival seems to have taken place on January 
8th, 1885. On that date thirty ladies met in Bryson's hall to dis- 
cuss organization. Dr. Fay, who was always an advance guard 
when a liberal movement was on foot, led the meeting, and with 
the masculine element to give them a start, the ladies once more set 
forth on permanent organization. 

The object as stated in article 2 of the constitution is : "the in- 
tellectual and social improvement of its members, and any kindred 
work approved by the club. The President was Mrs. C. M. Sever- 
ance; Vice-Presidents — Mrs. M. C. Graham, Mrs. S. C. Hubbell, 
Mrs. H. M. Ross; Treasurer, Mrs. E. M. Willard; Secretary, Mrs. 

C. W. Gibson; Board — Mesdames Frank Gibson, D. G. Stephens, 
F. C. Howes, Pigne, Bath, and Wills. This club grandmother 
seems to have had an excellent constitution and great vitality, as she 
entered at once upon a successful career. 

The club first turned its thoughts toward an exhibit of woman's 
work at the world's fair at New Orleans, but after hearing a report 
from their committee, Mrs. D. G. Stephens and Mrs. Hagan, they 
withdrew suddenly, appalled at the discouragements. 

The first formal address before this club was made by Mrs. 
Jeanne Carr on "Women in Business,'' and was full of interest. 
Miss Clark and Miss Macy kept them informed on kindergartens. 
But the chief interest doubtless centered around the Art Committee, 
of which Miss Willis was chairman, and her paper on Michael 
Angelo, illustrated by a large collection of photographs, must have 
been a treat indeed. This of course was before Mrs. Wills had de- 
serted art and taken to cooking schools and work, but these things 
show that the world moves, and doubtless cooking will become an 
art if artistic people take hold of it. 

The Flower Festival Home, which is one of the most creditable 
and successful institutions of our city, had in a measure its origin 
in this woman's club of 1885. The work section, consisting of Mrs. 

D. G. Stephens, Mrs. Booth and Mrs. Howes, announced as their 
subject for March 7th, 1885, the "Condition and wages of working 
women of Los Angeles." Committees were appointed to inquire 
into the subject and report on that date. Mrs. Stephens and Mrs. 
Frank Gibson investigated the matter thoroughly and reported that 
the most urgent need was for a well-conducted, inexpensive family 
boarding-house, a home where young women on small salaries could 
have the comforts and protection of a home at slight expense. Con- 



SABLT CLUB LIFB IK LOS ANGELES 221 

siderable enthusiasm was aroused, and the ladies, Mrs. Gibson and 
Mrs. Stephens — ^we all know of what stuff they are made — ^having 
once taken up a cause were not disposed to desert it hastily. The 
subject was continued for several meetings and finally culminated in 
Flower Festival being given to raise funds toward establishing a 
home for working girls. Its success was beyond all expectation, 
and as the enthusiasm grew and the work increased a separate so- 
ciety was formed under the name of the "Flower Festival Society," 
making the Home their special work. The new society drew 
largely from the working element of the Woman's Qub, but they 
could not have been enlisted in a better cause. And it seems to me 
that in no way can a woman's club better fulfill its mission than as a 
center from which collective thought crystallizes into individual ac- 
tion. If our club life succeeds in suggesting to any of us a field for 
efficient individual work it certainly has not been in vain. But ef- 
fective work to be done by a society must be specific, must be clearly 
defined. It cannot be effectively done by forming a society and se- 
lecting the work afterward. The society must be formed for the 
work — ^not the work for the society. Such was the method of the 
Flower Festival Society, and its work has long since ceased to be 
an experiment, it has become history. You all know it, or may 
know it if you are interested to look it up. 

One other thing inaugurated by this club and successfully carried 
out was the nomination and election of Mrs. Anna S. Averill as a 
member of the School Board of Los Angeles in November, 1886. 
The work was done almost entirely through the primaries. A com- 
mittee of ladies, three in number, called upon the leading politicians 
of each party and asked them to present Mrs. Averill's name for 
nomination. The gentlemen took hold of the matter not only cheer- 
fully but with enthusiasm and carried it forward to success without 
it being necessary for the women to patrol even the outskirts of the 
political campaign. 

These are^only a few of the many things our club grandmothers 
busied themselves about, and as I look through the records of their 
deeds and misdeeds I am struck with the courage of their convic- 
tions and am surprised that Los Angeles does not come nearer being 
a model city when we consider all their efforts in her behalf. 

This club grandmother, born January 8th, 1885, l*ved until May 
5th, 1888. She seems to have expired on that date in the middle 
of a sentence, evidently from exhaustion brought on by too violent 
work at a flower festival. 

And so passed away two loved and honored societies, but their 



222 HIBTOBICAL 800IETY OP SOUTHERN GALOOBNIA 

works do follow them, and from their ashes has ^Mrung the Friday 
Morning Qub, fully armed for battle when a principle is involved, 
but loving peace more than war, yet ever ready to extend the hand 
of fellowship to earnest effort in any good cause. But the worid 
moves only so fast as the individual moves, and if we each push on 
a little every year to better thinking, we will have made our largest 
contribution to the world's betterment; for it is what we make of 
ourselves rather than what we make others do that counts for real 
growth. And if the Friday Morning Qub makes three hundred 
women thoughtful, fair minded, joyous, loving justice as wdl as 
mercy, it has done a work of which it need not feel ashamed. 



IN THE OLD PUEBLO DAYS 

(Homes and Home Life in Old Los Angeles.) 

BY J. M. GUINN. 

In its old pueblo ^or village^ days Los Angeles was not a thing 
of beauty ; indeed it was homely almost to ugliness. There were no 
freaks or fads in its architecture; no external ornamentation of its- 
dwellings, and but little attempt at variety in house building. The 
houses were nearly all of one style — square walled, flat roofed and 
one story high. 

In the old pueblo days every man was his own architect and 
master builder. He had no choice of material, or, rather with his 
case loving disposition he chose to use that which was most con- 
venient ; and that was adobe clay, made into sun-dried brick. Time 
was the essence of building contracts then. When a prospective 
house builder was granted a lot from the public domain, the Ayun- 
tamiento (town council) usually gave him a year's time in which to 
complete his house; if it was not convenient for him to finish it in 
that time it was easy to get an extension. 

The Indian was the brick-maker and he toiled for his task-mas- 
ters like the Hebrews of old for the Egyptian, making bricks with- 
out straw — and without pay. There were no labor strikes in the 
building trades then. The Indian was the builder and he did not 
not know how to strike for higher wages. The adobe bricks were 
moulded into form and set up to dry. Through the long summer 
days, they baked in the hot sun, first on one side, then on the other; 
and when dried through they were laid in the wall with mud mor- 
tar. Then the walls had to dry and dry perhaps through another 
summer before the house was habitable. 

The prevailing roofing material was bituminous pitch or "brea,'' 
brought from the mineral tar springs west of the city, where it 
boiled up from the earth. There was but little wood used in house 
construction then. It was only the aristocrats who could indulge 
in the luxury of wooden floors. Most of the houses had floors 
of the beaten earth. Such floors were cheap and durable. A door 
of rawhide shut out intruders and wooden-barred windows admitted 
sunshine and air. Nails were not essential in house building. 



224 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF BOTTrHERN CALIFORNIA 

Thongs of rawhide took their place as fasteners. It took time but 
it cost very little money to build a house in the old pueblo days. 

There were some comfortable and commodious houses in the 
old town. The "Palacio de Don Abel," (Palace of Don Abd 
Stearns) as the natives called it, which covered the present site 
of the Baker block was large; and it was luxurious in its ap- 
pointments within; and so was the Carrillo house, and the "casa" 
of Alvarado and some others; but externally even these were not 
handsome or imposing. 

In its old pueblo days Los Angeles was not aesthetic. Beauty 
was sacrificed to utility and ease. "The majority of its buildings," 
said Don Leonardo Cota in the Ayuntamiento, sixty years ago, 
"present a gloomy, a melancholy aspect, a dark and forbidding as- 
pect that resembles the Catacombs of Ancient Rome more than 
the habitations of a free people." There was no glass in the win- 
dows of the houses. There were no lawns in front, no sidewalks 
and no shade trees. Th streets were ungraded and unsprinkled, and 
when the dashing "caballeros" used them for race courses, dense 
clouds of yellow dust enveloped the houses. There were no slaugh- 
ter-houses and each family had its own "matanza" in close proxim- 
ity to the kitchen where the bullocks were converted into beef. In 
the course of time the ghastly skulls of the slaughtered bovines 
formed veritable Golgothas in the back yards. The crows acted 
as scavengers and when not employed in the street department 
removing garbage, sat on the roofs of the houses and cawed dis- 
mally. They increased and multiplied until the "Plague of the 
Crows'' compelled the Ayuntamiento to offer a bounty for their 
destruction. 

The legendary of the hearth stone and the fireside, which fills 
so large a place in the home life and literature of the Anglo-Saxon, 
had no part in the domestic system of the old time Californian. 
He had no hearth-stone and no fireside; nor could that pleasing 
fiction of Santa Claus coming down the chimney with toys on 
C hristmas eve, that so delights the children of today, have been 
understood by the youthful Angelenos of long ago. There were 
no chimneys in the old pueblo. The only means of warming the 
houses by artificial heat was a pan (brasero) of coals set on the 
floor. The people lived out of doors, in the open air and invigorat- 
ing sunshine; and they were healthy and long-lived. Their houses 
were places to sleep in or shelter from rain. 

The furniture was meagre and mostly home-made. A few 
benches or rawhide bottomed chairs to sit on; a rough table; a 



IN THE OLD PUEBLO DAYS 226 

chest or two to keep the family finery in; a few cheap prints of 
saints on the walls; these formed the decorations and furnishing of 
the living rooms of the common people. The bed was the pride 
and the ambition of the house-wife. Even in humble dwellings, 
sometimes, a snowy counterpane and lace-trimmed pillows decor- 
ated a couch whose base was a dried bullock's hide stretched on 
a rough frame of wood. A shrine dedicated to the patron saint 
of the household was a very essential part of a well-regulated home. 

In old pueblo days the fashions in dress did not change every 
year. A man could wear his grandfather's hat and his coat, too, 
and not be out of the fashion. Robinson, writing of California in 
1829, says, "The people were still adhering to the costumes of the 
past century." It was not until after 1834, when the "Hi jar 
G>lonists" brought the latest fashions from the City of Mexico, 
that the style of dress for men and women began to change. The 
next change took place after the American conquest. Only two 
changes in half a century — a garment had to be very durable to 
become unfashionable then. 

Filial obedience and respect for parental authority were early 
impressed upon the minds of the children. A child was never too 
old or too large to be exempt from pimishment. 

Stephen C. Foster used to relate an amusing case of parental 
disciplining he once saw. An old lady, a grandmother, was belabor- 
ing, with a barrel stave, her son, a man 30 years of ge. The son 
had done something of which the mother did not approve. She 
sent for him to come over to the maternal home to receive his pun- 
ishment. He came. She took him out to the metaphorical wood- 
shed, which in this case was the portico of her house, where she 
stood him up and proceeded to administer corporal punishment 
With the resounding thwacks of the stave she would exclaim : "I'll 
teach you to behave yourself." "I'll mend your manners, sir." 
"Now you'll be good, won't you ?" The big man took his punish- 
ment without a thought of resisting or rebelling. In fact, he seemed 
to enjoy it. It was, no doubt, to him, a forcible and feeling re- 
minder of his boyhood days. 

In the earlier years of the pueblo, great respect was shown those 
in authority and the authorities were strict in requiring deference 
fiom their constituents. In the pueblo archives of 1828, are the 
records of the impeachment trial of a certain "Judge of the Plains." 
The principal duty of such a judge was to decide cases of disputed 
ownership of stray cattle. This judge seems to have had a very 
exalted opinion of the dignity of his office. Among other com- 



22o HISTORICAL BOaETY OV SOUTHBRM CALIFORNIA 

plaints of his arbitrary actions, was as one frcMn young Pedrp 
Sanchez, who testified that the judge had tried to ride his horse 
over him in the street, because he, Sanchez, would not take off his 
hat and stand uncovered while the **]uez del Campo'' rode past 

In these days when municipal and state taxation have become 
so excessive, it is pleasant to know that there was a time in our 
city's history, when there were no taxes on land and improvements^ 
that there was a time when men's pleasures and vices paid the cost 
of governing. Under Mexican rule the municipal funds were ob- 
tained from the revenue on wine and brandy; from the licenses of 
saloons and other business houses; from the tariff on imports; from 
permits to give dances; from fines and from the fees of bull-rings 
and cock-pits. Although in the early "40's" the pueblo or the 
ciudad, for it had become a city then, had a population of 2,000, 
and although the municipal council exercised jurisdiction over 6,000 
square miles outside, the revenues rarely exceeded $1,000 a year; 
yet with this small amount the municipal authorities ran a city and 
county government and kept out of debt. It did not cost much to 
run a government in those days. There was no army of high sal- 
aried officials then, with a camp following of political heelers quar- 
tered on the municipality and fed from the public crib at the ex- 
pense of the taxpayer. Politicians may have been no more honest 
then than now, but where there was nothing to steal there was no 
stealing. The old alcaldes and regidores were wise enough not to 
put temptation in the way of the politicians and thus they kept 
them reasonably honest, or least, they kept them from plundering 
the taxpayers by the simple expedient of having no taxpayers. 

The only salaried officers in the days when the most illustrious 
Ayuntamiento was the ruling power in Los Angeles, were the Sec- 
retary of that body, the Sindico or Tax Collector, and the School- 
master. Forty dollars was the monthly salary piaid the Secretary, 
who was also clerk of the Alcalde s court; the Sindico received a 
commission on collections; and the Schoolmaster was paid $15 per 
month. If like Oliver Twist, he cried for more, he was dismissed 
"for evident unfitness for his duties." The other officials took their 
pay in the glory of holding office. 

The functions of the various departments of the city government 
were most economically performed. Street cleaning and the light- 
ing of the city were provided for on a sort of automatic or self-act- 
ing principle. There was an ordinance that required each owner 
of a house, every Saturday, to sweep in front of his premises to the 
middle of the street, His neighbor, on the opposite side doing the 



IN THB OLD PUEBLO DAYS 227 

same, met him half way, and so the street was cleaned without 
expense to the city. There was another ordinance that required 
each owner of a house of more than two rooms on a travelled street 
to hang a lighted lantern in front at his door at night f rpm dark to 
eight o'clock in winter and to nine in stmimer. So the city was 
at no expense for lighting. There were fines for the neglect of 
these duties. The crows had a contract for removing the garbage. 
There were no fines imposed on them. Evidently they were efficient 
city officials. It is said that "every dog has his day." There was 
one day each week that the dogs of the old pueblo did not have, on 
which to roam about, and that was Monday. Every Monday was 
dog catcher's day; and was set apart by ordinance for the kili.K,; 
of tramp dogs. Woe betide the unfortunate canine which, on that 
day, escaped from his kennel or broke loose from his tether and 
took to the street. A swift flying lasso encircled his neck and the 
breath was quickly choked out of his body. Monday was a "dies 
irac," an evil day, to the boy with a dog; and the dog-catcher was 
properly abhorred and despised then as now by every boy who pos- 
sessed a canine pet Jip£^ Tfie 

There was no pBHHffife' department in the old pueblo. Every 
houses with their clay walls, earthen floors and rawhide doors were 
.as nearly fireproof as a human habitation could be made. So there 
was no need of a fire department I doubt whether any "muchacho" 
of the old r^me ever saw a house on fire. The boys of that day 
never experienced the thrilling pleasure of running to a fire. What 
boys sometimes miss by being born too soon ! 

There was no paid police department in the old pueblo. Every 
able bodied young man was subject to military duty and had to 
take his turn at standing guard. These guards policed the city but 
were not paid. 

Viewed from our standpoint of high civilization, life in the old 
piueblo was a monotonous round of wearying sameness — ^unevent- 
ful and uninteresting. Yet the people of that day seem to have 
extracted a great deal of pleasure f rcmi it Undoubtedly they missed, 
by living so long ago, many things that we, in this highly enlight- 
ened age, have come to r^;ard as necessities of our existence; but 
they also missed the harrowing cares, the vexations and the exces- 
sive taxation both mental and municipal, that prematurely furrow 
^wr brows and whiten our locks. 



THE PIOUS FUND 

BY REV. FATHER ADAM^ V. G. 

In 1857 Hon. John T. Doyle was authorized by the Most Rev. 
Archbishop Alemany of San Francisco, and the Right Rev. Bishop 
Amat of Monterey and Los Angeles, to take steps to recover for 
them as official trustees for the Catholic church and Catholic people 
of this state, the sums due by the government of Mexico to the 
church on account of the "Pious Fund of California" — the property 
belonging to which had been appropriated by Santa Anna, in 1842, 
to the use of the public treasury. 

It is my purpose this evening to show how the Pious Fund 
originated and what vicissitudes it was subject to. 

The Spianish monarchs, from the time of the discovery of Cali- 
fornia in 1542 by the expedition fitted out by Cortez, cherished the 
object of colonizing this country and of converting its inhabitants 
to the Catholic faith. 

Many expeditions were set on foot at the expense of the crown, 
for a century and a half, at an enormous expense, but yithout per- 
manent result. Venegas tells us that down to 1697 the kings of 
Spain really had no permanent foothold in the vast territory which 
they claimed under the name of California. 

The Spanish government as early as 1643 invited the Jesuits to 
accompany Admiral Pedro Portal de Casanate in his expedition 
to California, which, like others attempted previously, failed. 

The last expedition undertaken by the crown was equipped in 
pursuance of a royal cedula in 1697; but it did not sail till 1683. It 
was confided to the command of Admiral Otondo, and the spiritual 
administration of the country was again entrusted to the Jesuits, 
the celebrated Father Kino accompanying the expedition. In spite 
of many precautions taken and an expenditure of $225,000, it failed. 
No wonder that in a Junta general (a public meeting under the 
auspices of the viceroy) it was determined that "the reduction of 
California by the means theretofore relied on was simply an im- 
possibility, and that the only mode of accomplishing it was to in- 
vite the Jesuits to undertake its whole charge, at the expense of the 
crown.'' 



THE PIOUS FUND 229 

The fathers declined the offer, believing as they probably did, 
that the conduct of the royal officers, civil and military, was the 
probable cause of the failure of former expeditions. However, their 
services as missionaries were freely placed at the disposal of the 
government 

Venegas tells us that individual members of the society, animated 
by a zeal for the spread of the Christian, faith in California, pro- 
posed to undertake the whole charge of the conversion of the coun- 
try and its reduction to Christianity and civilization ; and this with- 
out expense to the crown, on condition that they might themselves 
select the civil and military officers to be employed. This plan was 
finally agreed to, and on the 5th of February, 1697, the necessary 
authority was conferred on Father Juan Maria Salvatierra and 
Francisco Eusebio Kino. Two conditions were required by the 
government, viz: (i) that possession of the country was to be 
taken in the name of the Spanish crown, and (2) that the royal 
treasury was not to be called on for any of the expenses of the 
enterprise without the express order of the king. 

Fathers Kino and Salvatierra solicited and received from various 
individuals and religious bodies voluntary donations, called 
Kmosnas, or alms. The funds thus collected were placed in their 
hands, in trust, to be applied to the propagation of the Catholic 
faith in California, by preaching, erection of church edifices, the 
founding of religious schools and the like, and under the same sys^ 
tern as that pursued by the Jesuits in Paraguay, Northern Mexico^ 
Canada, India and elsewhere. 

Details of the earliest contributions obtained can be found in 
Venegas' "Notice de la California," volume 2. Besides sums given 
to defray immediate expenses, it was determined to establish a fund 
or capital, whose income should form a permanent endowment for 
the missions. 

The first cantributions seem to have been by the congregation of 
"Nuestra de los Dolores," which contributed $10,000; and Don 
Juan Caballero y Ozio gave $20,000 more. These donations formed 
the nucleus of the "Pious Fund." It was increased from time to 
time by others, and in a few years it attained great magnitude and 
importance. 

For more explicit details, one could read a "Papal Anonimo," or 
Father Palou, with "The Informe del Director General de Tcmpo- 
ralidades y Fondo Piadoso," "Documento para la Historia de Mex- 
ico,"* in series, Vol. VI, and other authors. 

Among Ihe most important contributions to the fund was one 



230 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

by the Marquis de Villa Puente and his wife, who in 1735, besides 
money donations, conveyed to the Society of Jesus, by deed, their 
estates and property of great value. 

With Fathers Kino and Salvatierra were associated Fathers Juan 
Ugarte and Francisco Maria Piccolo; the former a missionary of 
singular talent and aptitude for the management of business affairs, 
having been made procurator, or man of business for the missions 
located in Mexico. Father Kino was unable to accompany his asso- 
ciates to the scene of their labors, and the mission was commenced 
by Fathers Salvatierra and Piccolo — who, three years later, were 
joined by Father Ugarte. These missionaries landed in an un- 
known country remote from all supplies and communications, ac- 
companied by a corporal and five men, with three Indian servants, 
aiming at no less an object than the spiritual conquest of the whole 
peninsula, and the countrv to the north of it, as far as CBpc Mendo- 
cino. The chronicles of the obstacles they surmounted, the priva- 
tions, sufferings and perils to which they were exposed, read like a 
romance, and is full of instruction. Besides the chief object of 
bringing the native population into the fold of the church, these men 
never lost sight of the interests of learning and science. They ob- 
served and chronicled in the new country all that was of interest 
in any branch of human knowledge. 

It is more than one hundred years since the Jesuits were ex- 
pelled from Lower California, yet to this day most that we know of 
its geography, climate and natural history is derived from the rela- 
tions of these early missionaries. 

The "Pious Fund" continued to be managed by the Jesuits till 
1768, in which year they were expelled from Mexico by royal or- 
der. The missions of Lower California were confided to the "Do- 
minicans" and those of upper California to the "Franciscans." The 
income and product of the "Pious Fund" was thereafter ap- 
propriated to the missions of both orders. The missions were de- 
signed, when the population should be sufficiently instructed, to be 
converted into parish churches, as had been done in other parts of 
New Spain. 

Father Junipero Serra, as all know, was the first President of 
the missions of Upper California, and these missions were governed 
by him and his successors down to the year 1836, when Francisco 
Garcia Diego, the last President of the missions, was appointed the 
first Bishop of the new diocese. 

The royal decree against the Jesuits says: "And let all their 
temporalities be seized in my name." The Crown then took all the 



THE PIOUS FUND SSI 

estates of the order, including those of the *Tious Fund/* which» 
however, was held in trust by duly appointed officers. The income 
and product of the same continued to be devoted, through the in- 
strumentality of the eccelesiastical authorities, to the rdigious use^i^ 
for which they were dedicated by the donors. 

On the declaration of Mexican independence, Mexico succceileil 
to the crown of Spain as trustee of the "Pious Fimd," and it c\ni 
tinned to be managed, and its income to be applied as before, down 
to September 19, 1836. The Catholic religion being tlie esttth 
lished religion of Mexico, a law was passed in 1836 by tlie Mexican 
G>ngress endowing the new Bishopric of California with $(),CKX) \kt 
year and leaving the administration of the "Pious Fuiur* Xo said 
first Bishop and his successors. On February 8, 1842, tlie law i^f 
1836 was abrogated by a decree of Santa Ana, then President of the 
republic, and the trust was again devolved to the State, for tl^e pur 
pose of carrying out the trust as established by its doiu>i>i and 
founders. 

On October 24, 1842, the same President went a step further anil 
had all the property belonging to the "Pious Fund** sold, capital 
izing on the basis of six per cent, per annum; that the prrn'rciU 
should be paid into the public treasury, and an obligtition lie aM 
sumed by the government to pay six per cent, on the ca|)ital. So 
far no attempt had been made to destroy or contiscatc the |>rn|)rrty 
or impair the trust. 

At that time, namely 1842, the "Pious Fund" projierty wan nold 
for about two million dollars. The Bishop of California rrinon 
strated earnestly against the decree of October 24, 1842, an vi(ila(l(»n 
of his rights and the sacredness of a contract with the I Inly Srr 
In 1845 ^c General Congress passed an act rcHt/>rinK to hlin aiid 
fcis successors the properties of the fund yet remaining tmwild. 

There is no doubt that the Republic of Mexico ifi tndclitrd (n \\w 
Catholic church of the State of California for due pro|H»rlion of \\w 
interest accrued since the treaty of Querctaro on tlir rapltal of this 
^und which was taken into the natir/nal treanury liy tlir Art of ( )r 
tober, 1842. 

Archbishop Alemany and Bishop Amat cUimril front fliii gov 
emment of Mexico, as American dtizenn, n/it only flir fwrtif y niw 
installments that became due hfHn 184/; itp iHfiH, with ltitrtti«l 
from the year last named, but alvi Up inf^r^t /m liitut* ifinthllMMMft' 
from the time they became payable. \cjr/trA\t\ff Up Mi Wr«d»woMli, 
the fund amounted to $1436/^33; Ihif ini^r^l hI %in in'r mui \mi 
annum would be $86,161,98; of which th«r mi%%ifpf)n of tiitititi ( ^ji 



232 HIRTORICAL SOCIETY OF 80UTHBRN CALIFORNIA 

fomia were entitled to one-half, that is to say, $43^080.99 per an- 
num, commencing with the year 1849 ^ 1868. The claim against 
Mexico was entered by Archbishop Alemany and Bishop Amat as 
corporations sole. It was proved by their lawyers that the nature 
of the *Tious Fund" was that of a trust for religious objects^ 
namely, the propagation of the Roman Catholic religion amongst 
the Indians of both Califomias. It was a perpetual trust, Mexico 
never attempted to deny or impair the trust, but throughout ex- 
pressed by her laws its sacredness, its religious character and her 
obligation as a civilized State to respect it accordingly. 

The fund was founded in 1735. I* ^^^ administered by the 
Jesuits until 1762, and for ten years by the Franciscans. In 1772 it 
was assumed by the King of Spain. In 1832 Mexico recognized 
the trust and its religious character; in 1836 Mexico transferred the 
administration of the fund to the Bishop of the Californias. 

The "Pious Fund," with all its receipts and disbursements, was 
kept not only on a separate account, but as one of its outside bu- 
reaus, in which, though administered by the government, the gov- 
ernment itself claimed no interest. Finally, in 1845, Mexico passed 
an act for restoring the fund and all unsold property to the Bishop 
of California. This was the last legislative act of Mexico dealing 
with the "Pious Fund.*' 

Against all this body of proofs, the opponents asserted that the 
fund and its object were more political than religious; that the 
donors contributed in that view; and that the acts of Mexico in 
dealing with the fund were for national and political objects. But 
their assertions had never been heard before, and no proof to sub- 
stantiate them is offered by them or can be offered; they turned their 
backs upon the history, not only of Spain but still more of Mexico 
herself. 

AMOUNT DUE BY MEXICO. 

So long ago as November 16, 1792, the total capital money and 
property of the "Pious Fund'' was almost $829,000, with a net an- 
nual income over expenditures of almost $8,500. In 1842 it had 
amounted to $1,700,000. 

The Umpire awarded that the Mexican government on account 
of the above claim had to pay the sum of $904,700.79. 

By the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, the Roman Catholic 
church of Upper California acquired the political status of Ameri- 
can citizenship, and its portion of income of the "Pious Fund'' there- 
after becoming due was of course pavable to American citizens. 
The claim thus became cognizable before the mixed commission 



THE PIOUS FUND 238 

holding its labors in Washington. It was presented in the name of 
the Archbishop and Bishops of the Roman Catholic church, repre- 
senting their flocks. The litigation lasted some years. The argu- 
ment in behalf of Mexico was conducted by Hon. Caleb Cushing 
and Don Manuel Aspiroz, an eminent Mexican jurisconsult, and by 
John T. Doyle on behalf of the claimants. The Commissioners 
differed in their judgments, the Mexicans holding that the Cali- 
fornia missions were mere political establishments and the funds 
provided for their support merely public funds. Mr. Wadsworth, 
as American Ccwnmissioner, held the "Pious Fund" to be a charity 
of private formulation, and a sacred trust put into the hands of 
Mexico which she had no right to divert for other purposes. 

By this difference of opinion the case of the claimants was nearly 
won, when put into the hands of such an umpire as Sir Edward 
Thornton, who could not by a judicial decision sanction a spoliation 
of property devoted by its owners to works of piety and charity. 
His decision gave to the church of California judgment against 
Mexico for over 900,000 dollars ! This decision in behalf of claim- 
ants was given in Washington November 11, 1875. 



ALFRED ROBINSON 

BY H. D. BARROWS. 

In the recent death at San Francisco of the venerable pioneer, 
Don Alfredo Robinson at the advanced age of eighty-eight years, 
sixty-six of which he had lived in California, we are reminded that 
the last member of that notable first group of Argonauts who settled 
in California about the year 1830 has passed away. Col. J. J. War- 
ner, who was bom the same year as Mr. Robinson ( 1807), and who 
reached California soon after the arrival of Mr. Robinson, died also 
in this same year in which the death of his friend took place. Very 
few, indeed, even of the second group who came a decade or more 
or less later, now remain. 

Mr. Robinson was probably one of the best known, both by 
Calif omians and Americans, of the early English-speaking settlers; 
and he was held in high estimation by all who knew him, for his 
thoroughly sterling character. 

He was born in Boston in 1807, and he died in San Francisco 
October 19, 1895. He made several trips to the West Indies whilst 
yet a boy ; and at the age of twenty-one he sailed as shipping clerk 
on the "Brookline*' from Boston, bound on a trading expedition for 
distant California, where he arrived in February, 1829. The 
•'Brookline," of which Capt. Wm. A. Gale (father of the wife of 
Col. J. J. Warner) was master, and Bryant & Sturgis, of Boston, 
were owners, brought probably one of the largest and best assorted 
cargoes of miscellaneous goods that had ever been offered to the 
Californians. Mr. Robinson remained in California, acting for 
some years, as agent of the Boston firm, which sent him out. 

In 1846 he published anonymously his "Life in California," giv- 
ing an account of his voyage, and of the quaint, primitive life of 
the inhabitants of this then isolated province of Mexico, as he found 
it in those early days. This book, a copy of which is in our Public 
Library, will be found to possess an extraordinary charm for those 
who take any interest in early California annals. It is a standard 
work, and is followed by most writers who treat on California his- 
tory, or of the period extending from 1829 to 1842. His intimate 
business and social relations with the best people of the Territory 
afforded him excellent opportunities for the acquirement of accu- 



ALFRED ROBINSON 286 

rate information. His duties as agent for the Boston firm required 
him to travel more or less up and down the coast, from San Diego 
to San Francisco, to bargain for the purchase of hides and tallow, 
and for the sale of goods. He also purchased otter skins; buying, 
he says, about 3000 in one year, which he sent to China, the best 
of them being worth $60 apiece. 

In the early part of 1836 he married Anna Maria, a daughter of 
Captain Jose de la Guerra y Noriega of Santa Barbara. In October 
of the next year he sailed with his wife for Boston by way of Hon- 
olulu on the "California," James Arther, master. He left his wife 
in Boston, in order that she might acquire an English education, 
while he made another trip to California in 1840, resuming his for- 
mer agency, remaining till December, 1842, when he went East 
again, on the American ship "Alert," via Mazatlan, carrying dis- 
patches to the U. S. Government from Commodore Catesby Jones; 
and also taking gold dust from the placers in this county, which had 
been discovered the year before, to the Philadelphia Mint, for Don 
Abel Steams. 

From 1848 or '49 he became the agent of the Pacific Mail 
Steamship Company. It is said that it was mainly owing to his 
advice that that company decided finally to locate in San Francisco, 
their preference being Angel Island, Mare Island, or Benecia. 
After selecting the latter site and spending a large amount of money 
there, contrary to his advice, they at last concluded to purchase their 
present location in San Francisco, which is but a very small portion 
of the donation which the city had previously offered through him 
to the company gratuitously, the same property now being worth 
several millions of dollars. 

In after years Mr. Robinson acted for a long time as agent for 
the extensive Steams estate of this county. Mrs. Robinson died in 
1855. I remember seeing her that year when she came here on a 
visit. She was a splendid looking woman, then in the flower of her 
youth, and possessing all the characteristic charms that distin- 
guished the Nori^^. 

The elaborate account given by Dana in his "Two Years Be- 
fore the Mast," of the ceremonies of the grand wedding at Santa 
Barbara is in fact an account of the marriage of Mr. Robinson and 
Senorita de la Guerra y Noriega. There were bom to this union 
eight children, of whom but one, a son, I believe, is now living. 
The Noriega family was one of the most prominent in California 
in the early part of this century. 

Mr. Robinson witnessed the transition of California from a 



286 HIBTORICAL 80CIETT OF SODTHnUf CALIFORNIA 

sparsely settled pfx>vince of Mexico to a great State of this Union 
of nearly a million and a half inhabitants. He saw the gradual 
changes from the mission era to the pastoral period; from the pas- 
toral to the mining, from the mining to the agricultural and horti- 
cultural and commercial epochs, from the Spanish to the Anglo- 
American regime; from the dominance of Mexican to that of Amer- 
ican laws, and from the principal use by the people of the Spanish 
language, to that used by the Anglo-Saxon races. Indeed, but very 
few of the present residents of California have any idea of the won- 
drous changes he saw, from the time the ship in which he came 65 
years ago entered the placid waters of San Di^p and San Francisco 
bays, until his death last month in San Francisco. Of all those of 
mature age, men or women, Califomians or foreigners, whom he 
found here on his first arrival, very few indeed have survived him. 
The scenes in which he participated and the actors thereof, have 
passed away, and seem to us of today, almost as unreal as the un- 
substantial stuff which dreams are made of. 

Mr. Charles R. Johnson, also on early pioneer and still a resident 
of this city, is a nephew of Mr. Robinson. 



VALUE OF A HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

WALTER R BACON 

The study and preservation of the History of California is the 
chief object of this society, and I present you these few words for 
the purppse of fixing attention upon this object, and demonstrating 
the utility of the society, as one of the conservators of good gov- 
ernment, and a considerable factor in the advancement of civiliza- 
tion, and if this is shown, each member should require himself to 
devote such share of his time and energy to its advancement as is 
proportionate to the importance of the object and results. 

No country or community advances except through the patriot- 
ism of its people; it might be said, the intelligent patriotism of its 
people. Patrioitsm is love of country, and intelligent patriotism is 
only possible when the patriot knows of the lives, deeds and charac- 
ters of the citizens of his country who have served it as to make it 
worthy of his patriotic love. Love of home is inherent in humanity 
whether savage or civilized, but love of country is the property only 
of those peoples who have so far advanced as to make realities of 
abstract ideas, and then should only be present when something in 
the history of that country and its people has placed it in a position 
entitling it to be held as an example worthy of emulation by civilized 
men. 

We love our country because certain men in humble station more 
than three hundred and fifty years ago chose it as a place in which 
to set up and put in force the simple doctrine that men must be 
allowed freedom of conscience in the worship of God, and because 
the descendants of these men and others of kindred belief taking 
hold of that doctrine as a verity and as established of God himself, 
added to it certain concomitant deductions including the declaration 
that "all men are created equal and endowed by the Creator with 
inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and 
in this land of ours, with singleness of purpose, fought out the fight 
against the doctrines conceived of old by devils in the human form 
of Kings and self-appointed spiritual rulers to which their short 
creed was opposed. 

They triumphed, but it only through history that we know of 
it: it is only through history and tradition which is one form of 
history, that we even know that George Washington ever lived and 



288 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CAUFORMIA 

by his military genius and steadfastness wrested the political con- 
trol of this country from the Crown of England, and as President 
afterwards, set an example of the ruler great enough to efface itself; 
do nothing but for the present welfare and future glory of his 
country, and silently endure the malicious carping of small critics, 
in order that his far-reaching plans of state might be discussed and 
adopted by the people out of self-knowledge — only exercised by free 
men. The great deeds of those gone before have ever been the in- 
spiration to good deeds by the living, but without history to 
chronicle and hand them down, so far as the later generations go, 
they may as well never have been enacted, for without knowledge 
of them there can be no incentive drawn from them. Herodotus 
has been called the Father of History; he it was who first refused to 
be content with the chronicle of the names of reigning Kings, and 
survivors of battles, but supplemented these by philosophical deduc- 
tions, showing what led up to and what flowed from these battles, 
and with reflections upon the effect upon his poeple of the acts or 
line of policy of the King. 

In forecasting results of state policy, we judge largely, almost 
solely, of what the future will bring forth by what the past has ac- 
complished, and this we can only know by consulting history. The 
fine flower of endeavor is best nourished in the light of accomplish- 
ment of others, and these are the things seized upon by history and 
by it crystallized — preserved, as in the clear amber, and held up to 
us to be forever emulated. 

"If at first you don't succeed, try again," is a trite saying and 
contains good advice, but without example and illustration, is abso- 
lutely without value to the great majority, and for these examples 
and illustrations we turn almost solely to history. Who has ever 
read Xenophen's account of the march of the ten thousand Greeks 
without feeling the thrill of emulation always excited by the recita- 
tion of brave deeds, and without retaining something which in the 
time of trial rises within him and gives him courage. 

As I have intimated, abstract ideas are verities; we are guided 
by them, in fact we worship them. The deeds of g^eat men gone, 
in time come to represent ideas; in fact become ideas, and under the 
clarifying and refining treatment of history we treat them in the 
abstract. It is the faculty of doing this that marks the line between 
bnite instinct and human intelligence; in the knowledge of this fac- 
ulty the great dramatists write and present their plays. There are 
none of us but can enjoy and appreciate the dramatic or tragic play 
in which but a mere suggestion of a point is made by the words of 



VALUE OF A HISTORICAL BOCISTY 239 

the actor, but which with the aid of the cultivated imagination of 
the hearer, becomes a living sentient idea embracing the whole range 
of man's life and the entire scope of his passions. It is this faculty 
that enables us to personify freedom and typify patriotism in our 
flag, so that while in view of the stars and stripes on any occasion, a 
mere suggestion of its origin and office, sets in motion a train of 
thought that sends burning impulses from head to heart and stirs 
the soul to its very foundations. 

Our society is engaged in searching out and preserving the his- 
tory of this corner of the United States. This means the correct 
chronicling of the lives of the early explorers, who bv their hardi- 
hood and perseverance first reached and spied out the land, and in 
almost inspired prophecy foretold something of its future glory. It 
means looking into the lives of those later comers, some of whom 
are still with us and are known by the honorable title of pioneers; 
it means the faithful recounting of their deeds accomplished under 
difficulties; the analysis of their steadfast characters and robust per- 
sonalities, and the holding up to us in an intelligent manner an epi- 
tomized statement of the results of their trials, their labors, their 
sacrifices, and their triumphs, to be an inspiration to us, their con- 
temporaries and eventually their successors, to go forward in the 
straight path of unwearied effort. 

And the lives of these have a special significance to us. They 
lived under the same skies that we now see; we see the same mount- 
ains as shadowed them, and while the face of the country now has no 
resemblance to its condition as they found it, we need only take a 
short journey to the eastward to find one that has, and be made 
forcibly to r^ize something of the effort involved in producing the 
change. 

So local history has special local significance, and its study and 
knowledge will be of special value to those of this land, and a faith- 
ful chronicle of the lives and deeds of the discoverers and pioneers 
of this country can have but one effect upon those who read it, ». e,, 
to be an inspiration to follow their virtues and avoid their mistakes 
and vices. 

History is at once scientific and philosophic. Its chief province 
is the fashioning and formulation out of past events, rules for fu- 
ture guidance in the administration of the state, and its chief beauty 
as a philosophy is that it is eclectic, in that it sets before its disciples 
the examples of the past and leaves to the cultivated intelligence of 
each their interpretation and future application. 

Until after Herodotus and Thucydides history was but a more 



240 HISTORICAL SOCISTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

or less accurate statement of the wonderful acts of individuals, the 
great public convulsions or picturesque occurrences, and it was only 
as far away as the latter part of the eighteenth century that die hu- 
mane philosophy of that period evolved the idea, that the intrigues 
and scandals of courts and the shock of armies, are only importint 
in proportion to their effect on the well being of the entire com- 
munity, so that now these things instead of being considered flic 
sole object of historical inquiry, are only of value for the indications 
they give of the primal causes on which the march of history de- 
pends, and now a writer of general history must exhibit the mora! 
and social conditions of a nation with the same clearness and cer- 
tainty as that pertaining to his dates of the changes in dynasties. 

This change in the scope and purpose of history has made nec- 
essary, important modifications in historical composition and greatly 
extended the range of accomplishments requisite for the historian, 
until now to write passable history the writer must first be a per- 
son of broad general knowledge and culture, thoroughly grounded 
in the knowledge of universal or general history, possessed of the 
philosophical faculty, and in addition, have the capacity for hard 
work and infinite painstaking. 

Without the aid of the vivid pictures of the great English 
writers, of the policies, conditions and events, that lead up to the 
meeting of the barons and King John at Runnymede, the value of 
the g^eat charter escapes us, and without knowing something of the 
lives of Nathaniel Bacon, Patrick Henry, Sam Adams and their 
contemporaries, the Declaration of Independence is but a mass of 
inane platitudes, but read in the light of their enunciations and con- 
tentions and in view of a critical knowledge of the wide difference 
in physical conditions and social and political pretentions of the 
colonists and their oppressors, it at once takes on its aspect of 
sublimity and uniqueness among all the written declarations of the 
civil and religious rights of man in all his history. So we hold 
that there is and must be a philosophy of history. 

From the discovery of the tables of Justinian in the thirteenth 
century dates the beginning of the present period of intellectual 
activity, but hampered by traditions of conservatism, four centuries 
of effort of the great thinkers of the race were required to so 
leaven the mass of human knowledge, as to bring us to that perfec- 
tion in ways of thinking, and in conception of civil rights that allow 
full swing to individual effort, which has culminated in achieve- 
ments during the century just closing of such incalculable advan- 



VALUE OF A HIOTORICAL BOaBTY 241 

tage to the race, as to almost stagger our power of comprehension 
when we attempt to forecast the future in its light. 

A complete inventory of the good points gained in that century 
of advancement can only be made by philosophical historical ap- 
pliances. Historical philosophy alone can tabulate the mistakes, 
point out the pitfa^Us to be avoided, fully appraise the advantages 
gained and mark a course for future pursuit which will preserve to 
us the best and discard the valueless. The limits of a paper to be 
read in fifteen minutes proscribe further examples of my meaning, 
but I think that small reflection will convince us all of the value of 
history, and that in local history a society is the only means for its 
collection and preservation, the extent of its interest is determined 
by local boundaries, which limitation will not warrant the publica- 
tion by private enterprise of purely local histories. 

The Society fosters interest in the subject among the people, and 
develops power of historic research and statement among its mem- 
bers; it defrays the expense of publication of local historical 
sketches, and thus preserves to the future the early history of the 
country, and at the same time renders it available for study in the 
present. In addition, our society owes a duty to the future of more 
than local importance, it is now or soon will be the conservator of 
historic articles more fully illustrating the domestic life of the pas- 
toral period of Southern California, than any other collection in ex- 
istence; it will be the duty of this society to find a permanent abiding 
place for these which will form an historical Museum that will con- 
stitute a primal fountain of information respecting one of the most 
interesting historic periods of the near past Upon this society will 
also fall the labor of cataloguing this museum so that the future stu- 
dent of history may there readily find an illustrated statement of 
past industrial and domestic art, chronologically arranged and in- 
dexed for reference. This society is now also the conservator of a 
great number of newspaper files, books, pamphlets and manuscripts, 
which owing to lack of proper ston^e are in some confusion and in 
danger of loss, which must be preserved, catalogued, and indexed 
for future use. For this purpose some spacious, properly arranged 
and fire proof rooms are necessary. The city should furnish them, 
but never will until we have a society with the energy and member- 
ship sufficient for a long, strong pull. There are other things which 
will devolve on this society for the doing, in fact, the list is so long 
that we will not try to itemize the general statement of its objects, 
purposes and uses. 

I think that the mere calling to your attention of the existence 



r 






242 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OK 80UTHBKN CALIFORNIA 

and resources of this society is sufficient to excite your friendly 
intere3t in its future. The poorest and meanest of our citizens have 
a direct interest in its success, how much more imperative then that 
the more intelligent and capable should manifest by their works an 
interest commensurate with their responsibilities. One of our chief 
resources and equipments for work has been and is our honored 
Secretary, Mr. J. M. Guinn, who, with his gift of concentration of 
energy and his genius for hard work, has evolved order out of chaos 
in our local history, has set before us in logical sequence the signifi- 
cant events which make history, and with his faculty for scientific 
discernment has analyzed and portrayed the characters who made 
the events. His hands have been loyally upheld for years by our 
associates of long standing membership, with Mr. H. D. Barrows 
at their head. Let us later members join heartily in this work and 
assume our share of the burden, let us advertise the society and ex- 
ploit its schemes, let us excite public interest to the increase of our 
membership and the funds in our treasury, in short, let us do those 
things that will demonstrate our belief in the value of the historical 
society to the community, and when this is done the future historian 
cannot complain of us that we scattered the landmarks and historical 
material intrusted to us, which we should have preserved and 
handed down to him for illustration of his lesson in history to the 
people yet unborn. 



JUAN BANDINI 



BY H. D. BARROWS. 



One of the most prominent and picturesque characters of early 
California was Juan Bandini. His father. Don Jose Bandini, was a 
native of Spain (born 1771), who settled first in Arica, Peru, where 
on the 5th day of May, 1 776, he married Ysidora Blanca y Rivera. 
He afterwards, or about 1820, came with his family to San Diego, 
California, where he resided till his death, which occurred at Guapa, 
or San Juan Del Rio, now in San Bemardina county, April 28, 
1841. He was buried at the Mission of San Gabriel. 

Juan Bandini, or, according to his full baptismal name, Juan Lo- 
renzo Bruno Bandini, was bom in the city of San Marcos de Arica, 
Peru, October 4, 1800. He came to San Diego with his father 
about the time he attained his majority. He early, or whilst still 
a young man, took an interest in public affairs, and during his career 
held many important positions. In 1827-8, he was a member of 
the Territorial Assembly; he then was appointed a commissioner of 
revenue at San Diego. He took a very active part in fomenting 
resistance to the mal-administration of Gov. Victoria, and to the 
counter revolution of Zamorano in '32. In 1833 he went to the 
City of Mexico as a member of Congress; and the next year he re- 
turned to California as Vice-President of the Hijar and Padres 
Colonization and Commercial Company and supercargo of the com- 
pany's vessel, the "Natalie," and stlso as Inspector of Customs for 
California. In 1836-8 he was an active leader of the southern op- 
position to the Alvarado administration. He was the owner of 
"Tecate" rancho on the frontier, which was sacked by the Indians 
in 1837-8, by which he lost everything. But Gov. Alvarado made 
him administrator of San Gabriel mission in 1 838-40, granting him 
also in 1838 "Jurupa," in 1839 "Rincon," and "Cajon de Muscu- 
piaibe;" and other lands at San Juan Capistrano in 1841. He was 
appointed Fiscal of the Tribunal Superior in 1840-2; and "Sindico" 
at Los Angeles in 1844 — all of which indicates that he was a capable 
and popular official. 

In 1845-6 Don Juan was Gov. Pico's secretary and was a zealous 
supporter of his administration and especially of his mission policy. 
He was at the time a member of the Departmental Assembly, and 



244 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP SOUTHERN CAUFORNIA 

he was the originator of the projected "Consejo General." He 
early espoused the cause of the United States and furnished sup- 
plies for Stockton's force. His daughters, who weire married to 
Americans, assisted in making the first American flag in California, 
which was constructed by Dona Refugio, his second wife. 

After the change of government, or in 1847, Don Jtian was 
named as member of the Legislative Council, and in 1848 he was 
Alcalde of San Diego. In 1850 he erected a costly building at that 
place and engaged in merchandizing. Later he devoted his time 
to stock-raising in La Baja California, where in 1852 he served as 
Juez. In 185s he brought his stock back to San Diego. 

He died at^Los Angeles November 4, 1859, ^^ ^^^ 60th year. 

The foregoing are some of the more important events of Mr. 
Bandini's career. 

Perhaps other matters of minor, or less importance might be 
briefly recounted. 

Mr. Bandini introduced into the Departmental Assembly a pro- 
posal to make this pueblo the capital of Alta California under the 
name of "Villa Victoria de la Reina de Los Angeles," which was 
approved by the Assembly and by the Governor but failed of ap- 
proval by the national government, although some years afterwards 
Los Angeles was made the capital by authority of the Mexican gov- 
ernment He also introduced a resolution asking the supreme gov- 
ernment to supply teachers for a college or academy in California. 

As one of three commissioners appointed for the purpose, Don 
Juan met with the two others, Governor Echeandia and Jimeno, at 
Monterey, October 21, 1830, and organized the Custom House at 
Monterey. 

Mr. Bandini was twice married. His first wife, Dolores, was 
the daughter of Captain Jose M. Estudillo. The children of this 
marriage were Dona Arcadia, who married, first, Don Abel Steams, 
and second. Col. R. S. Baker; Ysidora, who married Col. C. J. 
Coutts; Josef a, married to Pedro C Carrillo; Jose M., and Juan, 
Jr. Of these, only Mrs, Baker and Don Juan, Jr., are now living. 
Mr. Bandini's second wife was Dona Refugio, daughter of Santiago 
Arguello. The children of this union now living are: Mrs. 
Charles R. Johnson, Mrs. Dr. J. B. Winston and Arturo Bandini. 
Their mother. Dona Refugio, whom many old timers well and fa- 
vorably knew, died in this city June 29. 1891. 

Mr. Bandini and other early California public men have been 
criticised by Americans because they frequently resisted oppressive 
laws and corrupt administrations. But critics should remember 



JUAN BAKDINI 



246 



that those who took part in this resistance to oppression, generally 
had good cause for their acts. With equal reason might these same 
carpers find fault with the opposition of our American revolutionary 
forefathers to the oppression of Great Britain a century and more 
ago. A close and impartial study of the causes which drove both 
the Califomians and the American colonists into organized and rev- 
olutionary resistance to the constituted authority, will show that the 
former as well as the latter, not only were justified, but that they 
were entitled to commendation for their heroic and self-respecting 
defence of their rights. The native or Spanish-speaking Cali- 
fomians, as a race, were lovers of liberty. 

Their great distance, under both Spanish and Mexican rule, 
from the central government, caused them to be neglected, and often 
to be sadly misgoverned; and, moreover, not infrequently, it seemed 
impossible for them to obtain redress for the many and chronic 
grievances of a political and economic nature which they were com- 
pelled to endure, except by resorting to revolution. 

The insurrection of i8gi against Gov. Victoria, headed by Pico, 
Bandini, Carrillo, Stearns and others, well illustrates the truth of the 
foregoing statement. The Mexican Congress by law provided for 
the distribution of the public lands of the nation among the citizens 
in conformity with regulations which were to be issued by the exec- 
utive branch of the government, but which were not promulgated 
until 1828. But as under this law and those regulations the co- 
operation of the local legislative department of the government of 
California was necessary to make grants of lands to citizens; and, 
ao Gov. Victoria neglected or refused to take any steps to carry out 
the same, or to call the legislative body together, the people very 
naturally and justly became impatient that the beneficent land laws 
of the republic, so far as they related to California, should thus be 
rendered inoperative. Furthermore, the people especially of Los 
Angelas, had become exasperated with the Governor, because of 
their belief that the acts of the Alcalde of Los Angeles, Vicente 
Sanchez, who during the year 1831 had kept a large number of the 
most influential citizens under arrest in the guardhouse, mostly for 
contempt of his authority or for some trivial offense, etc., were in- 
spired by Gov. Victoria. As a result of the stand taken by the revo- 
lutionists, Victoria was driven out of the coimtry ; but it was not till 
1833, when Figueroa became Governor that the laws of 1824 and 
the "reglamento" of 1828 were carried into effect; and that able and 
patriotic Governor made grants of land under them, which were 
duly approved by the Territorial Legislature. 



246 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

If the considerate judgment of mankind commended the Ameri- 
can revolutionists for their contention that "taxation and representa- 
tion should go together/' it can no less approve the stand of the 
California revolutionists in favor of the execution of laws on which 
the material welfare of the Territory so closely depended. 

In opposing political and other abuses, as Don Juan Bandini and 
other influential Califomians were frequently compelled to do, those 
gentlemen acted as good citizens and patriots who had the welfare 
of California at heart. 

Bancroft's estimate of the personal qualities of Don Juan Ban- 
dini is in the main just. He says of him : "He was a man of fair 
abilities and education^ of generous impulses, of jovial tempera- 
ment; a most interesting man socially, famous for his gentlemanly 
manners, of good courage in the midst of personal misfortunes, and 
always well liked and respected; indeed his record as a citizen was 
an excellent one. He also performed honestly and efficiently the 
duties of his various official positions. He was an eloquent speaker 
and fluent writej"." 

Don Juan left a valuable collection of "Documentary History 
of California;" also an original MS., "Historia de California," 
which are in Bancroft's possession. 



THE STORY OF A PLAZA 

BY J. M. GUINN. 

In Spanish-American countries the plaza is the center of com- 
munity life — ^the heart from which the arterial blood of the pueblo 
or ciudad circulates. Around the plaza are usually grouped the 
government buildings and the principal churches. Like the forum 
of old Rome it is a place where questions of state are discussed and 
where sometimes revolutionary plots are hatched. It is a meeting 
place of the people to exchange gossip and to retail the day's 
doing^. 

Los Angeles, being a town of Spanish birth, has its plaza, but 
its royal square has long since ceased to be the center of communal 
life or a political hotbed for the germinating of revolutions. When 
Governor Felipe de Neve, nearly one hundred and twenty years ago, 
founded the pjueblo of our Lady of the Angels his first act was to 
locate a plaza for the geographical center from which his town 
should radiate. De Neve's plaza was rectangular in form — seventy- 
five varas wide by one hundred in length. It was located north of 
the church; its southerly line very nearly coincided with what is now 
the northerly line of West Marchessault street. On this, the cuar- 
tel, or guard house, the public granary, the government house and 
the capilla or chapel, fronted. 

In 1 814, when the foundation of the Nueva Iglesia, or new 
church, was laid, it, too, fronted on the old Plaza; but the great 
flood of 181 5 changed the river's channel from the eastern side of 
the valley to the western and the waters came up to the foundations; 
the location of the church was changed to higher ground — ^its 
present site. When the final location of the Nueva Iglesia had been 
decided upon by Gov. Sola in 18 18, next in importance was a plaza 
en which the church should front and since there was none, the evo- 
lution of plaza from the ejidos or common land and house lots 
began. There were evidently some buildings on the designated 
area, for we find in the old records that the pueblo authorities, in 
1825, ordered a house torn down that stood on the Plaza. 

Previous to 1818, the trend of the pueblo's growth had been to 
the northward, but after the location of a site for the new church 
had been determined the movement to the southward began. June 



248 HISTORICAL 80C1ETV OF 80UTHEBN CALIFORNIA 

21, 1 82 1, Jose Antonip Carrillo, one of the aristocrats of the ancient 
pueblo regime, petitioned the Comisionado for a house lot near the 
'*new temple which is being built for the benefit of our holy re- 
ligion.'' A lot 40x60 varas (the present site of the Pico House or 
National Hotel as it is now called) was granted him. On this lot 
between 1821 and 1823 Carrillo built, for that time, quite an aristo- 
cratic residence, fronting it on the Plaza. It had a wing extending 
along the line of Main street and one running back from its eastern 
end to a cross wall, thus inclosing a patio or inner court. Its high 
gabled roof of red tiles and its white walls gave it an imposing ap- 
pearance. Its spacious ballroom witnessed many a gay assemblage 
of the beauty and the chivalry of the pueblo. 

Plaza fronts became the fashion with the pud>lo aristocracy; and 
in course of time the homes of the Picos, the Carrillos, the Sepul- 
vedas, the Olveras, the Lugos, and the Abilas were clustered around 
the square. 

There seems to have been no "piano" or plot made of the new 
Plaza. The building line zigzagged. A moderate deviation was 
not noticed, but if some one built out too far the authorities pulled 
down his casa. In 1838, the city authorities ordered Santiago 
Ruble's house demolished "to maintain the Plaza line.'* Santiago 
seems to have been fired with an ambition to outdo his neighbors in 
Plaza front or rather by building out to obtain three Plaza fronts, 
but his pride got a fall and so did his house. 

When the vacant lots with Plaza fronts were all built upon, the 
irregular shape of what was originally intended to be a square be- 
came more noticeable. So the Ayuntamiento (Council) set to work 
to solve the problem of squaring the Plaza, but it proved to be as 
diflficult a problem as squaring the circle. Commissioners were ap- 
pointed and they labored faithfully to evolve plans to remedy "cer- 
tain imperfections which have been allowed to creep into the form 
of the Plaza through carelessness ; and to add to the beauty of the 
town by embellishing the Plaza.'' But like many a commission 
since then they encountered opposition to their laudable eflforts. 

Pedro Cabrera's house lot fell within the line of a street that it 
was proposed to open out to the westward from the Plaza. The 
Commissioners offered him a larger and better lot in exchange, but 
Pedro would none of it. He wanted a Plaza front and the new 
lot had none. Then the Commissioners oflfered him another lot 
and for damages the labor of the chain gang for a certain number 
of days. The pueblo treasury was empty — there was neither a 
horse nor a hide in the street fund and the prisoners' labor was all 



THE STORY OP A PLAZA 249 

the compensation they could offer. But Pedro was inexorable. 
He did not propose to be sidetracked in the social scale by losing his 
Plaza front, so the street had to take a twist around his lot, and half 
a century has not untwined the twist that Pedro's pride gave the 
Calle Iglesia (Church street), now West Marchessault. By re- 
ducing its dimensions and by giving the lot owners who had built 
back the land between them and the new building line the Ayunta- 
miento succeeded in partially squaring the Plaza. The north, south 
and west lines, after squaring, were each 134 varas or about 380 feet 
in length and the east line was 112 varas or 330 feet long. At that 
time Los Angeles street (or Vineyard street, as it was then called) 
ended at Arcadia and the principal entrance into the Plaza from the 
south was the Calle de Los Negros — ^the street of the blacks — ^vul- 
garly known in later times as Nigger Alley. 

The Old Plaza has been the scene of many a tragedy and of 
comedies not a few. In the stormy days of Mexican rule when rev- 
olutions and pronounciamientos were the escape valves of the pent- 
up patriotism of California politicians, many a time has it echoed 
the tread of armed men. Many a g^ily-caparisoned cavalcade has 
ridden forth from it to do battle for the country or rather a part of 
it; for in most of these contests it was Calif ornian against Califor- 
nian — the patriots of the south against the rebels of the north and 
vice versa. ^ 

In the Civil War of 1837-38, the "Surenos" (Southerners) were 
defeated by the Northerners of Monterey at the bloodless battle of 
San Buenaventura, with a heavy loss of mustangs; and the unfortu- 
nates of the southern army who had escaped capture were compelled 
to foot it home to Los Angeles — ^an insult too grievous to be tamely 
Iwme by the proud caballeros of the south. But greater indignities 
were in store for them. While footsore and weary they slumbered; 
in the thick darkness of night — ^there were no street lamps in the 
pueblo then — Capt. Espinoza, with a detachment of the northern 
army stole into the sleeping town. Capturing the drowsy picket 
guard, he encamped on the Plaza. In the morning when the artisto- 
crats of the Plaza fronts opened their doors they were confronted 
by armed men. From headquarters on the Plaza, Espinoza began 
a search for the concealed statesmen and warriors of the pueblo; and 
ere the set of sun, a dozen or more of the leading men of the south 
were forced to begin a weary march (or ride) of 600 miles to Val- 
lejo bastile at Sonoma, where as prisoners of state — ^Alvarado's free 
State of Alta California — they whiled away the long summer days 
in durance vile. 



250 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

In the revolution of 1845, i^om their military headquarters in 
the curate's house, Pico and Castro mobilized their allies on the 
Plaza and in command of 400 caballeros they rode forth to battle 
against Micheltorena's army of chicken-stealing cholos and Sutter's 
warriors in bronze. Victorious over Mexican and Indian on the 
battlefield, of Cahuenga, they returned again to the Plaza to receive 
the plaudits of mothers, sisters, wives and sweethearts. 

But the old Plaza long ago ceased to be a storm center of polit- 
ical disturbance. Across the plains of the Laguna came the Saxon 
invader and from the mesa his cannon sounded the death kndl of 
Mexican domination in California. 

The Plaza beheld its last military pageant when in 1847 Stock- 
ton's invading army, 600 strong, entered the subjugated city and 
marching up the Calle Principal to the stirring strains of "Yankee 
Doodle" and "Hail Columbia," it camped on the public square. 
The music of Stockton's famous brass band as it floated out on the 
evening air, did more, it is said, to smooth the creases out of "war's 
wrinkled front" than all the treaties and conciliatory proclamations 
of the gringo commanders. 

But peace hath her pageants as well as war; and the old Plaza 
has been the scene of many a gay fiesta, many a brilliant civic pa- 
rade, and many a solemn church procession, as well. During the 
Mexican era it witnessed the inauguration ceremonies of two Gov- 
ernors of California. The first were those of Carlos Carillo, some- 
times called the Pretender. On the 6th of December, 1837, Gov- 
ernor Don Carlos Carrillo, "accompanied by a magnificent calva- 
cade" (so an old record says), entered the city and crossing the 
Plaza took the oath of office in the Juzgado or Hall of Sessions- 
and at the head of his retinue he repaired to the church, where he 
listened to a solemn mass. For three nights, in honor of the occa- 
sion, the Plaza fronts were brilliantly illuminated and the big can- 
non on the square boomed forth the glad tidings that Los Angeles 
was the capital of California, and that she had a Governor of her 
owfL Then Alvarado, the de facto Governor, came down from 
Monterey with his northern hordes and Carlos, the Pretender, fled 
to the wilds of San Diego. Later on he was captured, and a pris- 
oner was taken back to his rancho and to his wife at San Buenaven- 
tura, where he lived happily ever afterwards. Los Angeles mourned 
a lost Governor and a lost capital, but she, too, was happier for the 
loss of both if she only could have realized it. 

The next inaugural services held on the Plaza were those of 
Manuel Micheltorena, the last of the Mexican-bom Governors of 



THB STORY OF A PLAZA 261 

California. He took the oath of office New Year's eve, 1842, in 
Sanchez Hall, which until quite recently stood on the eastern side of 
the square. An inauguration ball, that lasted a week, followed. 
The Plaza fronts were again brilliantly illuminated and cannon 
boomed forth a glad welcome to the new Governor — cannon that but 
two years later sounded the trump of his doom at the battle of 
Cahueng^. 

One of the most imposing of the church festivals in which the 
Plaza figured in the olden time was the festival of Corpus Christi. 
Corpus Christi is celebrated forty days after Easter; and is intended 
tc commemorate the ascension of the Body of Christ into Heaven. 
Every year, before the festival, the Plaza was swept and cleansed of 
rubbish, and enramadas, or booths, of boughs constructed in front 
of the principal houses; and altars erected. The celebration of this 
festival by processions on the Plaza was continued after the Ameri- 
can occupation — indeed, down to within the past 25 years. From 
the Weekly Star of June 5, 1858, I extract the following descrip- 
tion of the celebration of that year : 

"Immediately after Pontifical Vespers, which were held in the 
church at 4 p. m., a solemn procession was formed which made the 
Q]f^'-'t of the Plaza, stopping at the various altars which with great 
cost, elegance and taste had been erected in front of the houses 
where the sacred offices of the church were solemnly performed. 
The order of the procession was as follows : Music — Young La- 
dies of the Sisters' School bearing the banner of the school, fol- 
lowed by the children of the school to the number of 120 in two 
ranks. They were elegantly dressed in white, wearing white veils 
and carrying baskets filled with flowers which during the procession 
were scattered before the Bishop and the clergy. Next came the 
boys of the church choir. Then twelve men bearing candles; 
these represented the twelve apostles. Then came Father Raho and 
Bishop Amat, bearing the Blessed Sacrament, supported on each 
side by the clergy, marching under a gorgeous canopy carried by 
four prominent citizens. These were followed by a long procession 
of men, women and children marching two and two. The proces- 
sion was escorted by the California Lancers, Captain Juan Sepul- 
vcda commanding, and the Southern Rifles, Captain W. W. Twist 
in command. 

"Very elaborate and costly preparations had been made by the 
citizens resident on the Plaza for the reception of the Holy Eu- 
charist; among the most prominent of which we noticed the resi- 
dence of Don Jesus Dominguez, Don Ignacio Del Valle, Don Vin- 



252 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

cente Lugo and Don Augustin Olvera. These altars were elegantly 
designed and tastefully decorated, being omamented with laces, 
silks, satins and diamonds. In front of each the procession stopped 
\^ hilst sacred offices appropriate to the occasion were performed. 

"Having made the circuit of the Plaza, the procession returned 
tc the church, where the services were concluded. After which the 
immense assemblage dispersed, and the military escorted the young 
ladies of the Sisters' School on their return home." 

Patroness Day or the fiesta of Our Lady of the Angels was an- 
other occasion in which the Plaza played a most important part. It 
is celebrated August 1 5th. The Mother of Christ, according to the 
Catholic doctrine, did not die but was taken up into Heaven, where 
she is continually adored by all the heavenly throng of angels and 
archangels as their queen. The following description of the cele- 
bration of that festival I take from the Star of August 22, 1857 • 

"At the conclusion of mass the pupils of the female school headed 
by their instructresses, the Sisters of Charity, come out of the 
church in procession bearing the image Our Lady under a canopy. 
They were joined by the Lancers and passing around the public 
square re-entered the church. The appearance of the procession as 
it left the church and durirtg its march was imposing. The canopy 
covering the representation of the angelic queen, tastefully oma- 
mented, was borne by girls dressed in white. The girls of the 
school with their heads uncovered and in uniform white dresses, fol- 
lowed ; then came the lancers, the rear of the company being brought 
up by a mounted division armed with lances. There was an evening 
procession on the Plaza. A bull-fight took place in the upper part 
of town in the afternoon, which was attended by a dense crowd. 
One hombre attempting to perform some exploits on foot which are 
usual at bull-fights in Lima and Mexico, was caught and tossed high 
in air a number of times by an infuriated bull and left for dead. A 
number of horses were badly gored and some killed outright. This 
branch of amusement was kept up for three days to the evident de- 
light of the boys and great suffering and ruin of many a noble 
steed." 

In the olden times, before gringo influence had wrought changes 
in social customs, when the Christmas festivities broke the monotony 
of pueblo life and the "Pastores" — (the shepherds) — a fragment of 
the passion plays of the Middle Ages, that had survived the lapse 
of time and crossed the wide expanse of sea and land between Eu- 
rope and the western shores of the sunset sea — were played by ama- 
teur actors, often has the old Plaza resounded with shouts of mirth 



THE 8T0BY OF A PLAZA 263 

at the undoing of the arch fiend, Satan, by the archangel, Michael. 
But after the change of rulers, in the days of gold Satan had his 
innings and the Plaza was given over to lawlessness, and vice ran 
riot on its borders. The Calle de Los Negros was as black in char- 
acter as in name. For its length and opportunities it was the wick- 
edest street on earth. Saloons, dance houses and gambling hells 
lined its walks and the high tide of its iniquities swept over the 
Plaza. 

In 1854 it is said that Los Angeles averaged a homicide for each 
day of that year. The Plaza borders and the Calle de Los Negros 
were the principal battle fields where most of the victims bit the 
dust 

The criminal element became bold and defiant; robbers and mur- 
derers terrorized the community. Then the law-abiding citizens 
arose in their might and in the shape of vigilance committees and 
military organization put an end to the saturnalia of crime, and to 
many of the criminals as well. The gallows tree on Fort Hill bore 
gruesome fruit and the beams over corral gates were sometimes fes- 
tooned with the hangman's noose. In less than a year twenty-two 
criminals, bandits, murderers and thieves, were hung in accordance 
with the laws or without law whichever was most convenient or 
most expeditious; and more than twice that number expatriated 
themselves for the country's good, and their own. After its puri- 
fication by hemp, the Old Plaza became a thing of utility, and was 
made the distributing point for a water system. In 1857, the City 
Council granted to Judge William G. Dryden the right to convey 
the water frcwn his springs, located on the low ground southeast of 
where the River Station now is, "over, under and thfough the streets, 
lanes, alleys and roads of the city, and distribute it for domestic 
purposes." 

Dryden raised the water by means of a pump propelled by a 
current wheel placed in the Zanja Madre into a reservoir on the 
Plaza, from whence it was distributed by pipes to the houses in the 
neighborhood. When Messrs. Griffin, Beaudry and their associates 
obtained the thirty years' lease of the city water works, one of the 
conditions of that lease was the building within a year at a cost 
not to exceed $1000 of an ornamental spring fountain on the Plaza. 
Another condition was the payment by the company to the city 
of $1500 a year for the rent of the water worics. 

Juan Bernard and Patrick McFadden, who had acquired pos- 
session of the Dryden franchise and water works, disposed of their 
system and the old brick reservoir on the Plaza came into the 



264 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

possession o£ the City Water Company, the successors of Griffin, 
Beaudry, et al. 

A year passed and no fountain played on the Plaza, another 
year waned and passed away and still tihe Plaza was fountainless. 
A third year was passing and still the unsightly debris of the old 
reservoir disfigured the center of the square. At a meeting of the 
Council, Dec. 2, 1870, the late Judge Brunson, attorney of the 
City Water Company, submitted the following propositions as a 
settlement of what he styled "the much vexed question of the 
reservoir and Plaza improvements :" 

The Water Company will remove the reservoir from the Plaza 
and deed all its rights and interests in and to the Plaza to the 
city of Los Angeles; will build a good and substantial fence around 
said Plaza; will lay it off in ornamental walks and grounds; will 
erect on it an ornamental fountain at a cost not to exceed $1,000 and 
will surrender to the city all city water scrip (about $3,000) now 
held by the company; provided said city will for the considerations 
named above reduce the rent ($1,500 a year) now paid by the 
company to said city under a certain contract made July 22, 1868, 
to the sum of $300 per annum. Some of the Councilmen demurred 
to giving up $1,200 a year *'for very little return/' 

Then Judge Brunson executed one of those brilliant legal *'coup 
de etats" for which he was famous. He threatened to bring suit 
against the city to defend the Water Company's rights. McFad- 
den, one of the former owners of the reservoir, stated to the Coun- 
cil that the Water Company had no right to the Plaza except the 
right to use it as a reservoir site, and since the company had ceased 
to use the reservoir the Plaza reverted to the city. But the Council, 
frightened at the prospect of a law suit and fearful of losing the 
Plaza, hastened to compromise on the basis of $400 a year rental 
instead of the $1,500 specified in the original contract. 

The fence was built, the walks were laid, and the ornamental 
fountain, too, was erected by the company, and for nearly thirty 
years it has spurted the crystal river water into the moss-cov- 
ered basin where the gold fish play. 

During the time of Spanish and Mexican domination in Cali- 
fornia, the Plaza was a treeless common; its surface pawed into 
ridges or trodden into dust by the hoofs of the numerous mus- 
tangs tethered on it or ridden over it. It had, however, its annual 
spring cleaning and decoration for the festival of Corpus Christi. 

For a decade or more after the American occupation its appear- 
ance was unchanged. The first attempt at its improvement was 



THE STORY OF A PLAXA 255 

made by the city authorities in 1859. . It was enclosed by a picket 
fence, wal)cs were laid off and some shrubbery planted. But in 
those days the city exchequer was in a chronic state of collapse and 
the improvements made were not kept up. The tethered mustangs 
gnawed the pickets and wandering goats nibbled the shrubbery. 
The Plaza gradually lapsed into its former state of dilapidation. 
In 1870 the City Water Company took it in hand and made the 
improvements named above. Its form was changed from a square 
to a circle. 

In the four score years that have passed since the old Plaza 
was evolved from a chaos of ejidos and house lots, the flags of king- 
doms, empires and republics have floated over it. In the begin- 
ning of its history the imperial banner of Spain waved on its bor- 
ders. It was supplanted by the tri-color of the Mexican empire. 
Next was raised the cactus-perched eagle flag of the Mexican re- 
public; on its downfall up rose the Stars and Stripes; and now 
above the ruined homes of the old Dons floats in the breeze the 
dragon flag of China. 

Three distinct forms of civilization and several forms of sav- 
ages as well have met on its borders. The pastoral Latin with his 
easy-going manners and customs and mode of life long since 
gave way to the aggressive Saxon ; and the Saxon in turn has been 
pushed aside by the Mongol. There have been race wars on the 
Plaza borders. Many of our older citizens will recall the incip- 
ient revolution of 1856, when a number of the Mexican population 
rose in protest against a grievous wrong done one of their people 
and, armed, they assembled on the Plaza with cries of down 
with the Americans, and "Viva Mexico!" The uprising ended 
with the exchange of a number of shots between the combatants, 
the wounding of the City Marshal and the death of a horse. But 
the Mongolian massacre of 1871 was a more sanguinary affair. 
One American was shot to death and eighteen Chinamen were either 
shot or hanged on that wild night of mob rule. 

The Plaza offers many an object lesson in the cosmopolitan 
characteristics of our population. There the civilizations and re- 
ligions of the Occident and the Orient meet but do not mingle. 
Each maintains its own customs and beliefs and scorns those of the 
other. From the eastern border of the old Plaza a heathen temple 
devoted to the worship of the Chinese god, Joss, confronts *«■<» 
on the western side of the square a Christian church dedicated to 
the worship of the Christian God. The little brown man of the 
Orient staggers along the streets of the public square weighed down 



256 HISTORICAL BOCISTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

by the burdens he carries balanced from the end of a bamboo pole 
brought from his native land — ^burdens carried today as his ances- 
tors bore them in ages long past; while the white man's burdens, 
(or at least a part of them), and himself, too, are borne along by 
electricity and steam — emotive powers which the man of the Occi- 
dent has harnessed down to do his bidding. The flash of the one 
and the roar of the other as they "swish" their burdens past the 
borders of the old Plaza dissipate the romantic fantasies of its by- 
gone days and leave to the memory of the passerby instead only 
a hasty glimpse of a common meeting place of two civilizations — 
the one living, the other dying. 



EARLY GOVERNORS OF ALTA CALIFORNIA 

BY H. D. BARROWS. 

It would seem desirable that the Historical Society of Southern 
California should have a consecutive list of the Governors of Cali- 
fornia, with dates of their incumbency, together with some account 
in briefest outline of the personality of each and of the more im- 
portant events of their several administrations. Such a list would 
be useful in many ways. It would enable our members to readily 
and conveniently locate each one historically by dates, and by the 
salient characteristics of each administration respectively. To sup- 
ply this desideratimi is the object of this paper. The completed list 
will cover three regimes, namely ( i ) that of Spain, extending f r<xn 
the settlement of Alta California in 1796 to 1822; (2) that of 
Mexico from 1822 to 1846; and (3) that of the United States, 
which commenced in 1846 and extends to the present time. I may 
supplement this by giving, later, brief biographical sketches of each 
Governor in separate papers. 

I have already read before the society sketches of two notable 
Governors, namely, of the first Governor, de Portola, and of the 
founder of this city. Governor Felipe de Neve. 

SPANISH GOVERNORS. 

The first Spanish Governor, under whom Alta California was 
first settled by civilized people, in 1769, and who at that time was 
also Governor of old or Baja California, was Caspar de Portola, a 
captain of the Spanish army, whose term as Governor of the new 
territory extended from 1769 to July 9, 1770, when he turned over 
the government to Pedro Pages as military commandante. 

Two missions were founded during the term of Governor de 
Portola, viz: that of San Di^o, July 16, 1769, and that of San 
Carlos de Monterey, July 14, 1771; also two Presidios or military 
posts, one at San Di^o, in 1769, and the other at Monterey in 
1770. 

Governor de Portola headed an exploring expedition by land 
from San Diego to the bay of San Francisco, soon after his arrival 
in the new territory. 

Friar Junipero Serra was at the head of the missionary estab- 
lishments during the administration of Governor de Portola and of 



268 HISTORICAL BOaETY OF 80UTHEBN CALIFORNIA 

two or three of the Governors who succeeded him. 

The successor of de Portola as Civil Governor was Felipe de 
Barri, whose jurisdiction extended over both the Calif omias, though 
he never resided in the new province. His term expired in 1775. 
The missions founded during his administration were: San An- 
tonio de Padua, July 14, 1771 ; San Gabriel, Arcangel, Sept. 8, 1771 ; 
San Luis Obispo, Sept. i, 1772. Personally, Governor de Barri ex- 
erted but little influence on the affairs of Alta California. 

The next Governor was Felipe de Neve, the founder of the 
Pueblo of Los Angeles, whose term extended from March 4, 1775, 
to Sept. 10, 1782, or for about seven and a half years. Governor 
de Neve was, at the time of his appointment, a major of Spanish 
cavalry, being thereafter promoted successively to the offices of col- 
onel, brigadier general, inspector general, and commandante general 
of Provincias Intemas. He was one of California's ablest Govern- 
ors, and a constructive statesman who would have commanded re- 
spect in any country. 

He inaugurated in California the policy of foimding civic as 
distinguished from religious institutions, in the form of pueblos 
wherein the people, instead of clericals, should govern. His "Reg- 
lamento'' or system for the government of California remained 
in force from his time till the coming of the Americans, and in fact, 
in some qualified form, to this day. 

The two pueblos or secular towns founded by him, and the 
dates thereof were: San Jose, Nov. 29, 1777; Los Angeles, Sept. 
4, 1 781; besides, under the energetic policy of Father Junipero, the 
following missions were established during his term : Dolores (at 
San Francisco), Oct. 9, 1776; San Juan Capistrano, Nov. i, 1776; 
Santa Clara, July 18, 1777; San Gabriel, Archangel, Sept. 8, 1778; 
San Buenaventura, March 3, 1782, together with these two presidios 
o: military posts : San Francisco, 1776; Santa Barbara, 1780. 

In fact, the founding of these two secular pueblos was the 
commencement of the foundation of a civil state. The utter fail- 
ure of the missionaries, despite their strenuous labors, to make self- 
governing citizens of the California Indians, compelled the gov- 
ernment in after years to follow up the good beginning made by 
the father of Los Angeles, Governor de Neve, and thoroughly secu- 
larize the entire system of local government of the territory. 

Don Pedro Pages, a Spanish lieutenant of Catalan volunteers, 
who had served in various official capacities in Alta California, suc- 
ceeded de Neve as Governor, his term extending from Sept. 10, 
1782, to April 16, 1790, or nearly eight years. Pages, like de 



EARLY OOVERNOBS OF ALTA GAUFORNIA 269 

Neve, was an able officer, and a man of great decision and force 
of character. During his official term the Santa Barbara mission 
was established Dec 4, 1786, and La Purisima, Dec 8, 1787. 

On the death of the president of the missions, Junipero Serra, 
Aug. 28, 1784, Father Tomas Esten^^ became the president 

JOSE ANTONIO ROMEU 

was the next civil Governor of California, his term commencing 
April 16, 1 79 1, and terminating at his death, April 9, 1792. Dur- 
ing his administration a mission was founded Sept 25, 1791, at 
Santa Cruz, and another at La Soledad, Oct. 9, 1791. 

Romeu's occupancy of the Governorship was brief, and his in- 
fluence, like that of Governor de Barri, on the affairs of the pro- 
vince, was, compared with that of others, unimportant. 

On the death of Governor Romeu, the Lieutenant Governor of 
the Califomias, Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga, then residing at Loreto, 
Baja California, became Governor ad interim, and, by order of the 
Viceroy he came to Monterey in July 1793. He performed the 
duties of Governor till the arrival at Monterey of his successor, 
Governor Borica, in October, 1794, when he returned to Loreto, 
and to his old duties of Lieutenant Governor. 

But on the resignation of Borica in 1800 on account of ill 
health, de Arrillaga again became Governor ad interim of the Cali- 
fomias; and in 1804 he was appointed military and political Gov- 
ernor of Alta California, which office he continued to fill till his 
death, which occurred at La Soledad mission, July 24, 18 14. 

Taking into account the time Governor de Arrillaga served as 
Governor, and as acting or ad interim Governor by virtue of his 
official position as Lieutenant Governor, his services extended over 
a longer period than that of any other incumbent. And, according 
to all accounts, he was in every respect a model Governor. During 
his term Santa Ynez mission was founded, Sept. 17, 1804. 

The seventh Spanish Governor of California was Diego Borica, 
whose official term began in October, 1794, and closed January 16, 
1800. His administration was memorable in many respects. As 
Bancroft truly says : "He was one of the ablest and best rulers the 
country ever had, always striving for progress in different direc- 
tions, avoiding controversy, and personally interesting himself in 
the welfare of all classes," etc. 

The following missions were established whilst he was Gover- 
nor, viz: San Jose, June 11, 1797; San Juan Bautista, June 24, 
1797; San Miguel, July 25, 1797; San Fernando, Sept. 8, 1797; 
San Luis Rey, June 13, 1798. 



260 HISTORICAL 80CIBTT OF 80UTHSBN CALIFORNIA 

All the foregoing officials were, I believe, natives of Spain. But 
the next Governor — successor of de Arrillaga — under the Spanish 
regime in California, Jose Dario Arguello, was a native of Quere- 
taro, Mexico. On the death of Governor de Arrillaga in July, 
1 8 14, Arguello,' being the ranking officer in California, became act- 
ing Governor, serving in that capacity till October, 181 5, when, 
having been appointed Governor of Baja California, he gave way 
to his successor, Pablo Vicente de Sola, the tenth and last Governor 
of Alta California under the rule of Spain. De Sola was a native 
of Spain. His term of office as Governor of California extended 
from August, 1815, to November, 1822, or till the establishment 
of Mexican independence; and he remained Governor till the next 
year (1823). The missions founded during this period were: San 
Rafael, Dec 14, 1817; San Francisco Solano, Aug. 25, 1823. 

I append a tabular list of Spanish Governors : 

1. Caspar de Portola 1769 to 1771 

2. Felipe de Barri 1771 to 1775 

3. Felipe de Neve 1775 to 1782 

4. Pedro Fages 1782 to 1791 

5. Jose Antonio Romeu 1791 to 1782 

6. Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga (ad int.) .... 1792 to 1794 

7. Diego de Borica 1794 to 1800 

8. Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga 1800 to 1814 

9. Jose Dario Arguello (ad int.) 1814 to 1815 

10. Pablo Vicente de Sola 181 5 to 1822 



BATTLE OP DOMINQUEZ RANCH 

BY J. M. GUINN. 

Of the notable events occurring during the conquest of Cali- 
fornia there are few others of which there are so contradictory ac- 
counts as that known as the battle of Dominguez Ranch. 

Captain William Mervine, who commanded the American forces 
in the fight, made no official report, or if he did it was not pub- 
lished. Historians in their accounts of the battle have collected their 
data from hearsay and not from written reports of officers engaged 
in it. In regard to the number engaged and the nimiber killed and 
wounded even Bancroft, usually the most reliable of California his- 
torians, has no accurate report. The reports of the number engaged 
on the American side varies with different authors from 250 to 
400, and the number killed from four to fifteen. It has been my 
good fortime, through the kindness of Dr. J. E. Cowles of this 
city, to obtain for the Historical Society a log book of the U. S. 
frigate Savannah kept by his imcle, Robert C. Duvall, who was an 
officer on that vessel. Lieutenant Duvall had command of a com- 
pany of Colt's riflemen in the battle. After his return to the ship 
he wrote a full, clear and accurate report of the march, battle and 
retreat. I transcribe the greater portion of his account. It is un- 
doubtedly the best report of that affair in existence. 

It will be recollected that Lieutenant Gillespie had been left by 
Commodore Stockton with a force of fifty men to garrison Los 
Angeles. An insurrection headed by Flores and Varela broke out 
After a siege of five or six days Gillespie and his men evacuated 
the city and retreated to San Pedro. Lieut. Gillespie, during the 
siege, sent a messenger to Stockton at San Francisco for reinforce- 
ments. Juan Flaco, the courier, reached San Francisco after a ride 
of 600 miles in five days— one of the most wonderful rides in his- 
tory. Commodore Stockton received the dispatches or rather the 
message of Gillespie's courier on the 30th of September. Early on 
the morning of October ist the Savannah, Capt William Mervine, 
was ordered to get under way for San Pedro with a force to relieve 
Lieut. Gillespie. "At 9 130 a. m.," says Lieut. Duvall, "we com- 
menced woricing out of the harbor of San Francisco on the ebb 
tide. The ship anchored at Sausalito, where on account of a dense 



262 HI8T0RI0AL 80GUTT OF 80UTHXBN CALIFO&NIA 

iog it remained until the 4th, when it put to sea. On the 7th the 
ship entered the harbor of San Pedro. At 6 130 p. m., as we were 
standing in for anchorage, we made out the American merchant 
ship Vandalia, having on her decks a body of men. On passing she 
saluted with two guns which was repeated with three cheers, which 
we returned. Brevet Captain Archibald Gillespie came on board 
and reported that he had evacuated the Pueblo de Los Angeles on 
account of the overpowering force of the enemy, and had retired 
with his men on board the Vandalia, after having spiked his guns, 
one of which he threw into the water. He also reported that the 
whole of California below the pueblo had risen in arms against our 
authorities, headed by Flores, a Mexican captain on furlough in this 
country, who had but a few days ago given his parole of honor not 
to take up arms against the United States. We made prq)arations 
to land a force to march to the pueblo at daylight." 

Oct 8 at 6 a. m. all the boats left the ship for the purpose of 
landing the forces, nimibering in all 299 men, including the volun- 
teers under command of Cagt Gillespie. At 6 130 all were landed 
without opposition, the enemy in small detachments retreating to- 
ward the pueblo. Frcnn their movements we apprehended that their 
large force was near. Capt. Mervine sent on board ship for a re- 
inforcement of eighty men under command of Lieut. R. B. Hitch- 
cock. At 8 a. m. the several companies, all under command of 
Captain William Mervine, took up the line of march for the purpose 
of retaking the pueblo. The enemy retreated as our forces ad- 
vanced. (On landing Wm. A. Smith, first cabin boy, was killed 
by the accidental discharge of a Colt's pistol). The reinforcements 
under the command of Lieut R. B. Hitchcock returned on board 
ship. For the first four miles our march was through hills and 
ravines which the enemy might have taken advantage of, but pre- 
ferred to occupy as spectators only, until our approach. A few shots 
from our flankers (who were the volunteer riflemen) would start 
them oflF; they returning the compliment before going. The re- 
mainder of our march was performed over a continuous plain over- 
grown with wild mustard, rising in places to six or eight feet in 
height. The ground was excessively dry, the clouds of dust were 
suffocating and there was not a breath of wind in motion. There 
was no water on our line of march for ten or twelve miles and we 
suffered greatly from thirst. 

"At 2 130 p. m. we reached our camping ground. The enemy 
appeared in considerable numbers. Their numbers continued to in- 
crease until towards sun down, when they formed on a hill near 



BATTLE OF DOIONGUEZ RANCH 268 

US, gradually inclining towards our camp. They were admirably 
formed for a cavalry charge. We drew up our forces to meet them, 
but finding they were disposed to remain stationary the marines 
under command of Capt. Marston, the Colt's riflement under com- 
mand of Lieut. I. B. Carter and myself, and the volunteers under 
command of Capt A. Gillespie, were ordered to charge on them, 
which we did. They stood their ground until our shots commenced 
"telling" on them, when they took to flight in every direction. They 
continued to annoy us by firing into our camp through the night. 
About 2 a. m. they brought a piece of artillery and fired into our 
camp, the shot striking the ground near us. The marines, riflemen 
and volimteers were sent in pursuit of the gun, but could see or 
hear nothing of it. 

"We left our camp the next morning at 6 a. m. Our plan of 
march was in columns by platoon. We had not proceeded far before 
the enemy appeared before us, drawn up on each side of the road, 
mounted on fine horses each man armed with a lance and carbine. 
They also had a field piece (a four-pounder) to which were hitched 
eight or ten horses, placed on the road ahead of us. 

"Capt. Mervine, thinking that it was the enemy's intention to 
thrown us into confusion by using their gun on us loaded with 
round shot and copper grape shot, and then charge us with their 
cavalry, ordered us to form a square — which was the order of march 
throughout the battle. When within about four hundred yards of 
th**-- the enemy opened fire on us with their artillery. We made 
frequent charges, driving them before us, and at one time causing 
them to leave some of their cannon balls and cartridges; but owing 
to the rapidity with which they could carry off the gun, using their 
lassos on every part, enabled them to choose their own distance, 
entirely out of all range of our muskets. Their horsemen kept out 
of danger, apparently content to let the gun do the fighting. They 
kent up a constant fire with their carbines but these did no harm. 
The enemy numbered between 175 and 200 strong. 

"Finding it impossible to capture the gun, the retreat was sound- 
ed. The captain consulted with his officers on the best steps to be 
taken. It was decided unanimously to return on board ship. To 
continue the march would sacrifice a number of lives to no purpose, 
for, admitting we could have reached the pueblo all communica- 
tions would be cut off with the ship and we would further be con- 
stantly annoyed by their artillery without the least chance of cap- 
turing it. It was reported that the enemy were between five and 
six hundred strong at the city and it was thought he had more artil- 



264 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CAUFORNIA 

Icry. On retreating they got the gun planted on a hill ahead of ua. 
The captain made us an address saying to the troops that it was 
his intention to march straight ahead in the same orderly manner in 
which we had advanced and that sooner than he would surrender 
to such an enemy he would sacrifice himself and every other man 
in his command. The enemy fired into us four times on the retreat, 
the fourth shot falling short, the report of the gun indicating a ismall 
quantity of powder, after which they remained staticMiary and mani- 
fested no further disposition to molest us. We proceeded quietly 
on our march to the landing, where we found a body of men under 
command of Lieut. Hitchcock with two nine-pounder cannon got 
from the Vandalia to render us assistance in case we should need it 

**We presented truly a pitiable condition, many being barely able 
to drag one foot after the other from excessive fatigue, having gone 
through the exertions and excitement in battle and afterwards per- 
forming a march of eighteen or twenty miles without rest. 

"This is the first battle I have ever been engaged in and having 
particular notice of those around me I can assert that no men could 
have acted more bravely. Even when their shipmates were falling 
by their sides I saw but one impulse and that was to pfush forward, 
and when the retreat was ordered I noticed a general reluctance to 
turn their backs to tke enemy. 

**The following is a list of the killed and wounded: Michael 
Hoey (ordinary seaman), killed; David Johnson (ordinary seaman), 
killed; William H. Berry (ordinary seaman), mortally wounded; 
Charles Sommers (musician), mortally wounded; John Tyre (sea- 
man), severely wounded; John Anderson (seaman), severely 
wounded, recovery doubtful. The following named were slightly 
wounded: William Couland (marine), Hiram Rockvill (marine), 
H. Sinland (marine), Jas. Smith (marine). 

*'On the following morning we buried the bodies of William A 
Smith, Charles Sommers, David Johnson and Michael Hoey on an 
island in the harbor. At ii a. m. the captain called a council of 
commissioned officers regarding the proper course to adopt in the 
present crisis, which decided that no force should be landed and 
that the ship remain here until further orders from the Commodore, 
who is daily expected." Entry in the log for Sunday, nth : "Wil- 
liam H. Berry (ordinary seaman) departed this life from the effect 
of wounds received in battle. Sent his body for interment to Dead 
Man's Island — so named by us. Mustered the command at quar- 
ters, after which performed divine service." 

From this account it will be seen that the number killed and 



BATTLE OF DOMINGUEZ RANCH 265 

died of wounds received in battle was four; number wounded, six; 
and one accidentally killed before the battle. On October 22d 
Henry Lewis died and was buried on the island. Lewis's name does 
not appear in the list of the wounded. It is presumed that he died 
of disease. Six of the crew of the Savannah were buried on Dead 
Man's Island — four of whom were killed in battle. Lieut. TDuvall 
gives the following list of the officers in the "Expedition on the 
march to retake the Pueblo de Los Angeles :" Captain William Mer- 
vine, commanding; Captain Ward Marston, commanding marines; 
Brevet Captain A. H. Gillespie, commanding volunteers; Lieut. 
Henry W. Queen, adjutant; Lieut. B. F. Pinckney, commanding 
first company; Lieut. W. Rinckindoff, commanding second com- 
pany; Lieut. I. B. Carter, commanding Colt's riflemen; Midshipman 
R. D. Minor, acting lieutenant second company; Midshipman S. P. 
Griffin, acting lieutenant first company; Midshipman P. G. Wal- 
mough, acting lieutenant second company; Midshipman R. C Du- 
vall, acting lieutenant Colt's riflemen; Captain Clark and Captain 
Goodsall, commanding pikemen ; Lieut. Hensley, first lieutenant vol- 
unteers; Lieut. Russeau, second lieutenant volunteers. 

The piece of artillery that did such deadly execution on the 
Americans was the famous Old Woman's gun. It was a bronze 
four-pounder or pedrero (swivel gun) that for a number of years 
had stood on the Plaza in front of the church and was used for 
firing salutes on feast days and other occasions. When on the 
approach of Stockton's and Fremont's forces Castro abandoned his 
artillery and fled, an old lady. Dona Clara Cota de Reyes, declared 
that the gringos should not have the church's gun. So, with the 
assistance of her daughters, she buried it in a cane patch near her 
residence, which stood on the east side of Alameda street near First. 
When the Calif omians revolted against Gillespie's rule the gun was 
unearthed and used against him. 

The Historical Society of Southern California has in its posses- 
sion a brass grape shot— -one of a charge that was fired into the face 
of Fort Hill at Gillespie's men when they were posted on the hill. 
This old gun was in the exhibit of trophies at the New Orleans 
Exposition in 1885. The label on it read: "Trophy 53, No. 63, 
Class 7. Used by Mexico against the United States at the battle 
of Dominguez Ranch, October 9, 1846; at San Gabriel and the 
Mesa Jan. 8 and 9, 1847. Used by the United States forces against 
Mexico at Mazatlan, November 11, 1847; Urios, (crew all killed 
or wounded), Palos Prietos, December 13, 1847, and Lower Cali- 
fornia, Feb. 15, 1848." It should be obtained from the government 



266 HISTORICAL 80CIBTY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

and brought back to Los Angeles. Before the battle the old gun 
had been mounted on the forward axle of a Jersey wagon which a 
man by the name of Hunt had brought across the plains the year 
before. It was lashed to the axle by means of rawhide thongs and 
was drawn by riatas as described by Lieut. Duvall. The range 
was obtained by raising or lowering the pole of the wagon. Ignacio 
Aguilar acted as gunner, and having neither lanvard nor pentstock 
to fire it, he touched off the gun with the lighted end of a cigarette. 
Never before or since perhaps was a battle won with such crude 
artillery. Jose Antonio Carrillo was in command of the Califomians. 
During the skirmishing of the first day he had between eighty and 
ninety men. During the night of the 8th Flores joined him with 
a force of sixty men. Next morning Flores returned to Los An- 
geles, taking with him twenty men. Carrillo's force in the battle 
numbered about 120 men. 

Had Mervine known that the Califomians had fired their last 
shot — their powder being exhausted — he could have pushed on and 
ccptured the pueblo. 



REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 

1899. 

To the Offherg and Members of the JBPUtoriocU Society of Southern California: 
I beg leave to submit the f Mowing report'. 

Number of Meetings Held 8 

Number of Papen Read x6 

JANUARY. 

Inangnral Address President A. E. Yerex 

Some African Folk Lore J. D. Moody 

FEBRUARY. 

Ygnado Del Valle H. D. Barrows 

Mny Ilnstre Ajnntsmiento .J. M. Gninn 

APRIL. 

The Early Spanish Governors of California H. D. Barrows 

How the Earth Was Peopled A. E. Yerex 

MAY. 

Early Missions and Missionaries of California^ Rer. J. Adam 

The Rise and Fall of the California Missions. F.J. Polley 

JUNE. 

The Pions Pnnd Rev. J. Adam 

The Battle of Domingnez Ranch .J. M. Gninn 

OCTOBER. 

Don Abel Steams H. D. Barrows 

Homes and Home Life in Old Los Angeles J. M. Gninn 

NOVEMBER. 
Jnan Bandini H. D. Barrows 

Across the Colorado Desert Fifty Years Ago Edward Coker 

(Read by Edwin Baxter) 

DECEMBER. 

The Value of an Historical Society Walter R. Bacon 

The Story of a Plaza J. M. Gninn 

The Society in this issne publishes a complete list of the names of the 
Pioneers; also, by reqnest, republishes the Conntitntion and By-Laws of the 
Society of Pioneers. In this, as well as in all p revio u s publications of the Society, 
it is understood the authors and not the Society are responsible for the statements 
made in their papers, and for the views and opinions expressed. 

Respectfully submitted, 

J. M. GUINN, Secretary. 



CURATOR'S REPORT 

Whole niunber of bound Tolumes and punphlets in the Library, 5435. 

The Society has received from Dr. J. E. Cowles of this city, the donation of 
a Tery yalnable Historical Manuscript Volume. It is a Log book of the U. S. 
Frigate Sayinnah, Flagship of Commodore John D. Sloat, Commander-in-Chief of 
the U. S. Pacific Squadron. It begins when the ship was lying in the harbor of 
Callao, Peru, March 24, 1845, and ends March 8, 1847, with the ship's arrival in 
New York harbor, after a cruise of 3 years 11 months and 19 days. This Log 
book was kept by Midshipman and Acting Lieut. Robert C. Duvall, an uncle of 
Dr. J. £. Cowles. The important historical part of it pertaining to California 
begins with the arrival of the Savannah in the harbor of Monterey, July 2, 1846. 
It contains a full and accurate account of the battle of Dominguez Ranch; of the 
expedition from San Diego to rescue Gen. Kearny and his men after the disastrous 
battle of San Pasqual; and of the march of Stockton's and Keaxny's forces from 
San Diego to Los Angeles in January 1847, which resulted in the capture of the 
city. In all these movements Lieut Dnvall participated and describes them from 
the standpoint of an eye witness. 

The thanks of the Society are tendered to Dr. J. B. Cowles and to his uncle, 
Capt. H. C. Cowles, of Stotesville, N. C, for this valuable donation. 

The Rev. J. Adam, an old valued member of the Society, before his departure 
for Spain last summer, presented to the Society a collection of old Spanish manu- 
scripts pertaining to the Missions and the early days of California. 

The thanks of the Society are tendered to the Rev. J. Adam for his valuable 

donation. 

J. M. GUINN, Curator. 



TREASURER'S REPORT 

1899 RECEIPTS. 

January 2 — Balance on band at this date as per last report $ 75 70 

Feby. 9 — Received from Pioneers Society 40 00 

Donations. 10 00 

To Dec 31 — Received dues from Members Historical Society 59 25 

Received membership fee 2 00 

Oct. II — Received for publications sold (Sutter document) 5 00 

Total Receipts $ 191 95 

1899 DISBURSEMENTS. 

March 4 — Paid for photographic work (Annual of 1898) J$ 2 50 

" 15 — Paid for printing Annual 112 00 

*• 28 — Sundries expenses of Secretary 5 40 

May 18 — Postal cards and printing i 75 

Dec. 30 — Secretary's bill, postage, express etc 8 90 

" Postage 70 cents, rubier stamp 25, two 95 

Total Disbursements $ 131 5® 

Total Receipts J19T 95 

Total Disbursements 131 50 

Balance on hand J$ 60 45 

E. BAXTER, 
January.!, 1900. Treasurer. 



PIONEER REGISTER 



Pioneers of Los Angeles County. 



OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY 

1899-1900. 

BOARD OP DIRECTORS. 

Wm. H. Workman, J. M. Guinn, 

Louis Rosdbr, K. D. Wisb, 

Bbn. S. Eaton, M. Tbbd, 
J. W. OnxBTTB. 

OFFICERS. 

Wm. H. Workman President 

K. D. Wish Pi»t Vice Preddeiit 

M. TxBD Second Vice-Pxeddeiit 

Louis RoBDBR Treaforer 

J. If. GuiNN Secretary 

COMMITTEE ON MEMBERSHIP. 
August Schmidt, M. F. Quinn, J. W. Guxbttb 

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE. 
Gao. W. Hazard, C. N. Wilson, Jobl B. Parkbr 

COMMITTEE ON LITERARY EXERCISE. 

H. D. Barrows, J. W. Giiabttb, Wm. H. Workman, J. M. Guinn 

B. S. Eaton, Mrs. Mary Franklin. 

COMBflTTEE ON BfUSlC. 

Louis Robdbr, J. C. Dottbr, M. Krbmbr, Dr. K. D. Wisb, M. F. Q^nn, 

Wm. F. Grossbr, Mrs. S. C. Yarnbll. 

COMMITTEE ON ENTERTAINMENT. 

Mrs. J. W. GiLLBTTB, Mrs. Dora Bildbrrrck, Mrs. K. D. Wisb, 

Mrs. M. Tbbd, Gbo. W. Hazard, John L. Slauohtbr, Gbo. T. McLaih. 



PIONEERS OF LX)S ANGELES COUNTY 

CONSTITUTION. 

[Adopted September 4, 1897.] 

ARTICLE L 

This society shall be known as The Pioneers of Los Angdcs 
County. Its objects are to cultivate social intercourse and friend- 
ships among its members and to collect and preserve the early his- 
tory of Los Angeles county, and perpetuate the memory of those 
who, by their honorable labors and heroism, helped to make that 
history. 

All persons of good moral character, thirty five years of age or 
over, who, at the date of their application, shall have resided at 
least twenty-five years in Los Angeles county, shall be eligible to 
membership. (Note. — At the meeting of January 4, 1898, it was 
decided by a vote of the soqiety that persons bom in the state are 
not eligible to membership.) 

ARTICLE III. 

The officers of this society shall consist of a board of seven di- 
rectors, to be elected annually at the annual meeting, by the mem- 
bers of the society. Said directors when elected shall choose a presi- 
dent, a first vice-president, a second vice-president, a secretary and 
a treasurer. The secretary and treasurers may be elected from the 
members outside the board of directors. 

ARTICLE IV. 
The annual meeting of this society shall be held on the fourth 
day of September, that being the anniversary of the first civic set- 
tlement in the southern portion of Alta California, to-wit, the found- 
ing of the Pueblo of Los Angeles, September 4, 1781. 

ARTICLE V. 
Members guilty of misconduct, may, uppn conviction, after 
proper investigation has been held, be expelled, suspended, fined or 
reprimanded by a vote of two-thirds of the members present at any 
stated meeting; provided, notice shall have been given to the society 
at least one month prior to such intended action. Any officer of this 
society may be removed by the board of directors for cause; pro- 



coMBTrnmoM 271 

vided, that such removal shall not become permanent or final until 
approved by a majority of members of the society present at a 
stated meeting and voting. 

ARTICLE VL 

Amendments to this constitution may be made by submitting 
the same in writing to the board of directors at least one month prior 
to the annual meeting. At said annual meeting said proposed 
amendment shall be submitted to a vote of the society. If said 
amendment shall receive a two-thirds vote of all members present 
and voting, the same shall be declared adopted. 

BY-LAWS. 

[Adopted September 4, 1897.] 

Section i. All members of this society who shall have signed 
the constitution and by-laws, or who shall have been duly elected 
to membership after the adoption of the constitution and by-laws, 
shall be entitled to vote at all meetings of the society. 

Section 2. The annual dues of each member shall be one dollar, 
payable in advance. 

Section 3. Each person on admission to membership shall sign 
the constitution and by-laws with his or her name in full, together 
with his or her place of birth, age, residence, occupation and the day, 
month and year of his or her arrival within the limits of Los An- 
geles coimty. 

Section 4. At the annual meeting, the president shall appoint 
a committee of three on membership. He shall also at the same 
time appoint a committee of three on finance. All applications for 
membership shall be referred to the Committee on Membership for 
examination. 

Section 5. Every applicant for membership shall be recom- 
mended by two members of the society in good standing. The ap- 
plication shall state the applicant's full name, age, birthplace, place of 
residence, occupation and date of his or her arrival in the county 
of Los Angeles. 

Section 6. Each application must be accompanied by the an- 
nual fee (one dollar) and shall lie over for one month, when a vote 
shall be taken by ballot. Three n^^ative votes shall cause the re- 
jection of the applicant 

Section 7. Any person eligible to membership may be elected 
r 'ife member of this society on the payment to the treasurer of $25. 



372 HisrroBicAL bocibty of soothern California 

Life members shall enjoy all the privil^es of active members, but 
shall not be required to pay annual dues. 

Section 8. The Finance Committee shall examine all accounts 
against the society, and no bill shall be paid by the treasurer unless 
approved by a majority of the Finance Committee. 

Section 9. Whenever a vacancy in any office of this society 
occurs, the Board of Directors shall call a meeting of the society 
within thirty days thereafter, when said vacancy shall be filled by 
election for the remainder of the unexpired term. 

Section 10. Whenever the Board of Directors shall be satisfied 
that any worthy member of the society is unable for the time being 
tc pay the annual dues, as hereinbefore prescribed, it shall have the 
power to remit the same. 

Section 11. The stated meetings of this society shall be held 
on the first Tuesday of each month, except the month of Septem- 
ber, when the annual meeting shall take the place of the monthly 
meeting. Special meetings may be called by the president, or by a 
majority of the Board of Directors, but no business shall be trans- 
acted at such special meeting except that specified in the call. 

Section 12. Changes and amendments of these by-laws may be 
made by submitting the same in writing to the Board of Directors 
at least one month prior to any stated meeting. Said proposed 
amendments shall be submitted to a vote of the society. If said 
amendments shall receive a two-thirds vote of all members present 
and voting, the same shall be declared adopted. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 



STEPHEN W. LA DOW. 

Stephen W. La Dow died at his home on Rosedale avenue, near 
Los Angeles city, January 6, 1899, aged 76 years. He was a char- 
tei member of the Pioneers of Los Angeles. He first came to Los 
Angeles in May, 1852, but after a brief stay he left for the northern 
part of the state, where he engaged in mining. He returned to Los 
Angeles in 1863 and settled on a tract of land, which now forms 
part of the La Dow school district adjoining the southwestern boun- 
dary of the city, where he continued to reside up to the time of 
his death. The following biographical sketch is taken from the 
History of Los Angeles published in 1890: 

STEPHEN W. LA DOW. 

"Of all who are represented in this work, none are more deserv- 
ing, none are more worthy, than he whose name stands at the head 
of this biographical notice. He was born in Milton, Saratoga 
county, New York, in 1824. His parents were Daniel and Laura 
(St. John) La Dow. His grandfather had twenty-three children, 
by two wives, and his father was a native of France. Mr. La Dow's 
maternal ancestors were of English oriein. The subject of this 
sketch is the fifth of seven children. His mother was a first cousin 
of P. T. Barnum, her mother, Ruhanna Taylor, being a sister of 
Bamum's mother. Laura St. John had but one brother, Taylor St. 
John, a well known clergyman in New York. Mr. La Dow was 
married in 1846 in his native state to Margaret Williams of Galway, 
New York. By that marriage he had two sons, Charles and John. 
In 1852 he left his family at the old home and came to California 
via Panama as a seeker of gold. He arrived in Los Angeles in May, 
and in July received the sad intelligence of his wife's death. His 
home was then broken up in the east, and his boys were taken care 
of by their grandmother, Mrs. McWilliams. Mr. La Dow went to 
the northern part of the state where he engaged in mining till 1863, 
when he returned and bought twenty-five acres of land near Los 



274 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHEKN CALIFORNIA 

« 

Angeles and soon added thirty-five more acres. On this farm he 
lived until 1868, when he pre-empted 160 acres, where he lived, 
southwest of Los Angeles City, and erected a new residence near the 
La Dow schoolhouse. In i860 he married Miss Harriet Dorman 
of Stanford, Maine, and they have one daughter, Hattie M., who 
has recently graduated at the Los Angeles high school. It is alto- 
gether proper in this connection to state that Mr. La Dow's sons by 
his first wife are very successful business men. Charles is an in- 
ventor and machinist, well known throughout the country. He is 
at Albany, N. Y., has accumulated wealth and recently beautified 
the old homestead in New York. John is an inventor, now located 
in Denver. Mr. La Dow gave one acre of land to the school dis- 
trict in which he lived and which was named in his honor the La 
Dow district, and he has been a trustee of the district twelve years 
and upwards. He was the first person to take water for irrigating 
purposes to that locality, which had a very beneficial effect on the 
material prosperity of the community living there." 

It is ten years since the above sketch was written. Mr. La Dow 
was one of the best citizens of Los Angeles county and lived a quiet 
life on his place up to his death. 

H. D. BARROWS, 

GEO. W. HAZARD, 
F. W. PESCHKE, 

Committee. 



A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MR. E. N. McDONALD. 

Once more our Society of Pioneers is called upon to mourn the 
loss of one of its members, one highly honored and respected — Mr. 
E. N. McDonald of Wilmington. 

Edward Nathaniel McDonald was born in Oswego, New York, 
May 9th, 1832. He was of Scotch-Irish parentage and son of Colon 
and Jane Winslow McDonald. He was the youngest of eleven 
children. 

When twelve years old he went to Canada, where he remained 
until he wag sixteen years old, when he returned to Washington 
county. New York, where he learned the blacksmith trade. He cante 
to California, arriving in San Francisco October 17th, 1853, and 
in San Pedro the 25th of the same month. He worked at black- 
smithing for Alexander & Banning until 1858, when he went into 
the mercantile business at San Pedro. Soon after he moved his 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHfiS 275 

Stock of goods to Wilmington, where he sold out and entered the 
employ of Banning & Gxnpany as superintendent of the building 
of wharves and warehouses, etc In 1859 in company with S. H. 
Wilson, he went into the sheep raising business on Catalina Island 
and continued in that business tmtil 1862, when, by the dry season 
and low prices he lost all his property. Commencing again at the 
foot of the ladder, he entered the employment of Banning & Co., as 
wagon master, and soon had general charge of their freight business 
and workshops, where he continued until after the civil war. In 
1865 he engaged in the butcher business in Wilmington. October 
19, 1865, Mr. McDonald married Miss Mary Hamilton Winslow of 
Washington coimty, New York. In 1866 he went to Arizona to fill 
a government contract, where he netted $15,000 in one year. Re- 
turning to his home in Wilmington in 1867, he invested his money 
ill land and sheep with good success, and continued in the sheep busi- 
ness for fourteen years. From 1886 to 1890, during the land boom, 
he sold much of his land at a large profit, and invested largely in 
Los Angeles city property. In 1876 he built the McDonald block 
on North Main street, Lx)s Angeles. In 1892 he built another block 
across the street from the first one. During the later years of his 
life he was engaged in the grain business, and built several fine ware- 
houses for storing grain. He was the principal stockholder and pres- 
ident of the Gldbe Mills, of which he was justly proud. In speaking 
of this mill he would say "The Globe Mill makes the best flour in 
California," and so it does. He spared no pains nor cost in the 
building material and machinery for the mill, and always used the 
best of wheat for the flour. He was a man of good business habits, 
temperate in all things. He had the confidence and respect of all 
with whom he had dealings. Though he was mild mannered and 
quiet he had strong convictions of right and wrong between man 
and man. He paid strict attention to his own business, and very 
little attention to the business of others, unless it conflicted with 
his. He was shrewd and straightforward in business and honest 
to the core. His heart was as pure and tender as a child, and his 
influence was ever cast on the side of justice, and especially so for 
the unfortunate and needy. His friends will miss him and mourn 
their loss, his enemies did not know him. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald 
had two sons, Winfred Savage, bom March ist, 1871, died June 
22d, 1896; Ransom Waldon, bom October 26th, 1872, died Novem- 
ber 26th, 1886. Mr. McDonald amassed quite a large fortune, val- 
ued at about $160,000. He died after a lingering illness, at his 
home in Wilmington, June loth, 1899, leaving no descendants to 



S76 HISTORICAL eOdSTY OF 80UTHBBN CALIFORNIA 

oijoy the benefit of his success business career, his wife alone sur- 
viving him. To his devoted wife we extend our deepest sympathy. 

M. F. QUINN, 

MATTHEW TEED, 

H. D. BARROWS, 

G>mmittee. 
Dated September 5 th, 1899. 

FRANCIS BAKER. 

To the Officers and Members of the Pioneers of Los Angdes 
County, California: Your committee appointed upcHi learning of 
the death of our respected fellow member, Francis Baker, who died 
in the city of Los Angeles, California, on the 17th day of May, 1899, 
would respectfully report : That our esteemed fellow member was 
bom in New Bedford, Mass., October 28th, 1828; his parental an- 
cestors for several generations were natives of Massachusetts. His 
mother, a Green, traced her ancestry back to Dr. John Green, of 
Salisbury, England, who came to America in 1736, and who, in com- 
pany with Roger Williams, bought Rhode Island from Miantonomi, 
the Indian chief, and founded the town of Warwick in that state. 
General Nathaniel Green of the Revolutionary war was a descendant 
of this same Dr. Green. Francis Baker, our comrade, at the age 
of 16 years, went on a whaling voyage to the Indian ocean. On his 
return in 1849 he shipped around Cape Horn for California, arriv- 
ing in San Francisco in September of that year. He went to the 
mines on the Stanislaus and worked for a time. He came to Los 
Angeles in September of the following year. His life in Los An- 
geles of nearly fifty years was crowded with stirring incidents, both 
of a public and personal nature. He served as deputy under Sheriff 
Getman and shot down the desperado Reed, who killed Getman, Jan. 
8, 1858. From 1868 to 1870 he was deputy under City Marshal 
William C Warren, who was killed by Joe Dye Nov. 1870, and was 
elected City Marshal in December, 1870, to fill the vacancy in the 
office caused by the death of Marshal Warren. He was elected City 
Tax Collector the two years next following. 

In 1 86 1 Mr. Baker clerked for V. Beaudry, sutler of the two 
companies of dragoons stationed in Los Angeles, of which Captain 
(afterwards General) Davidson was commander, and Captain (af- 
terwards General) W. S. Hancock was quartermaster. In 1871 Mr. 
Baker married Hannah K. Ryals, who died in May, 1887, leaving no 
children. Mr. Baker leaves two sisters — Mrs. Cornelia G. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 277 

Winslow, living in New Bedford, Mass., and a sister living in Ply- 
mouth, Mass. His niece, Cornelia B. Pierce, and her daughter, LUa 
Pierce, are the only relatives of Mr. Baker living in this city. 

Respectfully submitted, 

JOHN OSBORNE, 
C N. WILSON, 
J. B. PARKER, 

Committee. 

MEMORIAL SKETCH OF HYMAN RAPHAEL. 

H. Raphael was bom August, 1838, in Germany. In about 
1 868 he left for Great Britain, residing there a few years. He then 
came to the United States, arriving in New York, where he stayed 
but a short time, leaving for California by the way of the Isthmus 
of Panama to San Francisco, reaching there about 1870. Shortly 
afterwards he came to Los Angeles and associated himself in busi- 
ness with his brother, the firm being, at that time, Raphael & Wit- 
telschoefer, which firm did business for a great many years on 
Requena and Los Angeles streets. 

In 1878 he went to San Francisco, where he remained a number 
of years, again returning to Los Angeles in 1882, when he formed 
a co-partnership with his brother under the name of Raphael Bros., 
which was located cm Main street, near First. Later on the firm 
of H. Raphael & Co., consisting of himself and his two sons, was 
started on South Spring street, between Fourth and Fifth. TTie 
present business is now at 509-511 South Main street, where he 
erected his present building. 

He has always taken the greatest interest in trying to assist all 
charitable and worthy purposes and leaves many friends whom he 
has befriended and assisted. He had been sick for a year past, and 
his final taking off, which occurred April 14th, 1899, was very un- 
expected. He leaves a widow, two sons and one daughter, who 
is married. F. W. PESCHKE, 

JOHN C. DOTTER, 
LOUIS ROEDER, 

Committee. 

LEONARD JOHN ROSE. 

In the death of L. J. Rose on the 17th of May, 1899, L<^ An- 
geles and the state of California lost an enlightened, enterprising 
and most useful citizen, and this Society of Pioneers lost an honored 
member. 



278 HISTORICAL BOdCTY OF 80UTHKBN CALIFORNIA 

Mr. Rose in many respects was a remarkable man. Very few 
men, as all you Pioneers who survive him so well know, have done 
so much as he to develc^ the resources of this imperial section of 
Southern California. 

It is fitting that the archives of the Society of Pioneers of Los 
Angeles county should contain at least a brief summary of his life. 
For a fuller account, and for an estimate of his character members 
are referred to the "Illustrated History of Los Angeles County/' 
published in 1889, which also contains a fine steel portrait of Mr. 
Rose. 

From that sketch, the data of which were taken down from his 
own lips, are condensed the following facts : 

Mr. Rose was bom in Bavaria, Germany, in 1827. He came with 
his parents to the United States when he was twelve years old. He 
spent his youth and received his education in Illinois, and later 
moved to Iowa. In the spring of 1858, with two himdred head of 
fine cattle and fifty horses, he set out, with nineteen other young 
men, for California by the thirty-fifth parallel route. After suffer- 
ing immense hardships, including attacks by hostile Indians, in 
which numbers of the party were killed, the survivors reached Santa 
Fe. Here Mr. Rose and his family remained a couple of years. 
From thence they continued their journey, by what was known as 
the ''Butterlield Stage Route," reaching Los Angeles in November, 
i860. 

Mr. Rose's record and great success as a vineyardist and orchard- 
ist on a large scale, and as a raiser of fine stock, is well known to 
the "old-timers" of this society. Early American settlers in Los 
Angeles gravitated naturally enough to the moist lands on which 
com could be raised without irrigation. But Mr. Rose, with a clear 
judgment that after results amply justified, following the example 
of Don Benito Wilson and one or two others, went to the foothills, 
where abundant water could be saved or developed, before it sank 
into the plains, and where heavy frosts were unknown, and demon- 
strated on a magnificent scale the possibilities of the citrus and 
grape industries on those foothills lands, by an object lesson that has 
since been worth millions to the people of Southern California. Mr. 
Rose was married to a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Jones in the 
50's. Mrs. Rose and a large family of children survive, as does 
also Mrs. Rose's venerable mother, Mrs. Jones, now a nongenar- 
ian. 

Mr. Rose was not without faults, as who is ? But he had good 
qualities of a positive kind, which all who knew him well will freely 



BIOGRAPHICAL BKETCHE8 279 

concede; and no class will more heartily assent to this than those 
who for nearly forty years were his near friends and neighbors. Mr. 
Rose served Los Angeles county as state senator for the term com- 
mencing in 1887, and also as a member of the State Vitictdtural 
Society, and of the State Board of Agriculture. His life was an 
active one, as well as a useful one, both to himself and to his neigh- 
bors; and naturally they rejoiced in his successes and grieved at his 
misfortunes. 

He was ambitious and enterprising, but California's usurious in- 
terest often — alas ! too often — neutralizes the most heroic struggles 
of ambition, and brings to naught the most carefully planned enter- 
prises. Usurious interest was one of the prime causes, in Mr. Rose's 
case, as in that of so many others, of his undoing. 

Peace be to the ashes of our good friend and fellow-Pioneer, 
L. J. Rose! 

We recommend that the respectful and sincere condolences of 
this Society of Pioneers of Los Angeles county be extended to the 
bereaved family of our deceased associate, and that a copy of this 
slight memorial sketch be transmitted to them by the secretary. 

H. D. BARROWS, 
B. S. EATON, 

Committee. 

Los Angeles, August i, 1899. 

Unanimously adopted on this date by the society. 

MRS. GEORGIA HERRICK BELL. 

REPORT OF MEMORIAL COMMITTEE. 

Again is our society called upon to mourn the death of an hon- 
ored pioneer and to extend its sympathetic condolences to the be- 
reaved family of the deceased. 

Mrs. Georgia Herrick Bell, wife of Major Horace Bell, at the 
time of her decease had been a respected resident of Los Angeles 
for more than thirty-four years. The following brief memorial 
sketch of Mrs. Bell's life is based on data furnished to your com- 
mittee at their request, by her husband : 

Mrs. Bell was bom at Springfield, Mass., April 23, 1845. She 
was the daughter of Albert and Virginia (Crocker) Herrick. Both 
the Herrick and the Crocker families were of colonial and revolu- 
tionary stock, the former of New York and New England, and the 
latter of Virginia. 

Major and Mrs. Bell were married Dec. 14, 1862, in New York 
city, whither the former, after the battle of Antietam, had been sta- 



280 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORKIA 

tioned to recruit sharpshooters. Afterwards her husband served un- 
der General Banks in Louisiana, where in April she joined him and 
where they both remained imtil September, 1865. From there they 
went to Texas, and in the spring of 1866 they started overland for 
California, reaching El Monte, Los Angeles county, on the 31st 
day of July, 1866. Their trip across the plains from Texas to Cali- 
J'.e time referred to was fraught with great hardship and 
still greater danger. In the memoranda furnished us by her hus- 
band (accompanying this report) numerous interesting and excit- 
ing episodes are recounted, which occurred on this trip, and also in 
their army life during the civil war. 

Mrs. Bell was of a kindly and dignified disposition, and she was 
universally loved and respected by all who knew her. She was 
domestic in her habits and manner of life, and thoroughly devoted 
to her family. She reared eleven children — ^five boys and six girls — 
the youngest of whom was sixteen years old at the time of her death. 
On the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Bell in Los Angeles they settled 
where the family homestead still stands, comer of Figueroa and 
Pico streets. Their residence was the first built south of Eighth 
street and west of what is now Grand avenue. Georgia Bell street 
was given that name years ago by the City Council in honor of Mrs. 
Bell. 

Her husband, Major Bell, was a nephew of Capt. Alexander Bell, 
one of Los Angeles's early Pioneers, who settled here in the early 
forties and who, in 1856, was a Fremont presidential elector. 

M. F. QUINN, 
H. D. BARROWS, 
B. S. EATON, 



Los Angeles, Sept. 5, 1899. 



Committee. 



MRS. CORDELLA MALLARD. 

(from the western graphic.) 

The work of the grim reaper is now frequently felt among the 
pioneer families of Los Angeles, the latest to be taken being Mrs. 
Cordelia Mallard, widow of the late Judge Joseph S. Mallard, who 
died at her home on West Ninth street, on Sunday morning last, 
aged 76, surrounded by all her sons and daughters and many of 
her grandchildren. 

Mrs. Mallard came with her husband, and a large party, across 
the plains in 1849, ^^^ after a pilgrimage of eight months, fraught 
with many dangers and other vicissitudes, arrived at San Bernardino 



BIOGRAPHICAL 8K£TCHE8 281 

on January i, 1850. Soon afterward most of the party came to Los 
Angeles and here Mrs. Mallard had lived for nearly fifty years, more 
than thirty of which were spent at her embowered home on West 
Ninth street, where she breathed her last. 

For many years Mrs. Mallard was foremost in charities and 
church work, at a time when Jew and Catholic and Protestant all 
labored together and when there were no pronounced church or so- 
cial coteries, and when all the inhabitants of Los Angeles pulled to- 
g^ether in a common cause. For more than a quarter of a century, 
though, this good woman had left to others those active social and 
religious cares that had been so fondly fostered by her hand and 
purse, although she had never lost her interest in the growth and 
magnificence of our fair city, and bestowed her entire attention on 
her family which had increased to a fourth generation since the de- 
ceased looked from the mouth of the Cajon Pass upon the flower- 
decked mesas of the upper Santa Ana that auspicious New Year's 
morning of nearly fifty years ago. She was the embodiment of mag- 
nificent womanhood then, being admittedly one of the most beauti- 
ful and ruddy looking women that had ever come into the state, al- 
though the same could be said of the three sisters that accompanied 
her, one of whom now survives her — Miss Phoebe Cox, who lives 
with her brother S. B. Cox, at Hollywood. 

Her mother also accompanied her, a woman of superior stock 
and attainments, who died in this city a few years ago at the ad- 
vanced age of 89. Her other sisters were the wives of Hon. John 
Nichols, the third American mayor of Los Angeles, and Hon. Jona- 
than R. Scott, an attorney of great ability and mind. Like Mrs. 
Mallard, these two sisters had raised large families of children, 
whose names are familiar to even all the newer residents of this sec- 
tion of the country. 

The father of Mrs. Mallard was a staff officer of General Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison, and whose deeds of valor are on record in 
Washington and Kentucky, his native state. 

At the bedside of Mrs. Mallard, when she peacefully and happily 
passed over into that "undiscovered country," were her two sons, 
Walter Mallard, deputy city assessor, and Clarence, a deputy in the 
office of County Auditor Nichols, his cousin. There were also Mary, 
wife of Colonel I. R. Dunkelberger; Augusta, wife of Major B. C. 
Truman: Isabella, widow of James Fulton, late pajTnaster general 
U. S. N., and an unmarried daughter. Miss Josephine, who was in 
constant attendance on her invalid mother for the past three years. 

Mrs. Mallard died as she had always lived — ^with an unerring 



282 HTBTORICAL SOCIETY OF 80UTHEBN CAUFORNIA 

faith in an eternal life beyond the grave, and with an unshaken be- 
lief that He who directs the birds through an immeasurable void in 
search of distant food and who marks the constellations in that un- 
fathomable vault where forever bum the steady lamps of heaven, 
is never unmindful of those who have been created in His image, 
however inscrutable may be His pilotship and care. She never 
doubted for a moment the divinity of our Savior and that there 
was ineffable beatitude beyond the tumults and strifes of the tem- 
pestuous world. 

"O, Death of Death ! Through whom alone 

All perfect gifts descend, 
Give us that steadfast faith in Thee 

Which brings a peaceful end." 

JOSE MASCAREL. 

BY H. D. BARROWS. 

(Read before Los Angeles Pioneers, Nov. 7, 1899.) 

Jose Antonio Mascarel, one of the first French pioneers of Los 
Angeles, who died October 6, 1899, was bom in Marseilles, France, 
April I, 1 81 6. He had lived in Los Angeles nearly 55 years, un- 
der Mexican and United States rule, and at the time of his death, 
he was in the 84th year of his age. He arrived at San Pedro har- 
bor, first in May, 1844, and after trading up and down the coast, he 
settled in Los Angeles the next year. With the exception of our 
associate member, Elijah Moulton, who arrived here in 1845, ^^ 
was before his death, the oldest foreigner in Los Angeles, if not in 
California. 

When eleven years old, Mr. Mascarel went to sea in the mer- 
chant service, and on attaining his majority, in 1837, he entered the 
French navy, in which service he continued four years. 

In about the year 1840, he sailed from Gibraltar for Valparaiso. 
In passing Cape Horn he had both feet frozen, from which he was 
ill when he arrived at Valparaiso. After recovering his health Cap- 
tain Mascarel engaged in coasting trade oflf the western coast of 
South America, he and another party having purchased a vessel, a 
Chilean schooner, "La Joven Fanita.*' 

A brother of Don Louis Vignes the Pioneer, and father of Fer- 
nando Vignes (who is still a resident of this city), Pedro Vignes, 
chartered this vessel, with Mr. Mascarel, as master, to come to San 
Pedro, California, bringing him (Vignes), together with several 
other persons. On arrival at Mazatlan, Jose y Limantour bought 
the vessel with the agreement that the voyage, with Mascarel as 
Captain, should be continued to California. TJjis Limantour, who 



BIOQRAPHIGAL BKBTCHE8 288 

was a Frenchman, who had extensive dealings with Mexicans and 
the Mexican government, was the same person who afterward laid 
claim to a considerable portion of the present site of San Francisco, 
under an allied grant frc«n the government of Mexico. The 
grant was, after a vigorous contest in the United States courts, 
finally rejected. A son of this Limantour, who was bom in Mexi- 
co, but who was educated in Europe, is now Minister of Finance of 
the Mexican republic under the administration of President Porfirio 
Diaz. 

Captain Mascarel arrived with his vessel and the owner and 
the other passengers at San Pedro in May, 1844. Don Juan For- 
ster, brother-in-law of Gov. Pio Pico, and father of Marcos Foster, 
of San Juan Capistrano, and of "J^anon" F. Forster of this city, 
was, at that time, custcmis officer at San Pedro. 

From there the vessel proceeded to Santa Barbara, where they 
remained two or three wedcs; and from thence to Monterey, where 
Limantour, who owned both the vessels and the cargo, sold the car- 
go to Governor Micheltorena for some $50,000. 

From there they went on to the Presidio of San Francisco, an- 
choring at the small settlement of "Yerba Buena" — ^the latter not 
being known then as San Francisco. Here they made their rendez- 
vous for about six months, making sundry trips to the various arms 
of San Francisco and San Pablo bays. 

At Sonoma and Petaluma, Limantour obtained in payment of 
debt due him from Gen. Vallejo two cargoes of wheat, amounting 
to some 11,000 fanegas (each about 135 lbs), which he sold to a 
Russian man-of-war, then lying at Sausalito.„Mr. Mascarel deliv- 
ered the wheat and Limantour, who remained meanwhile at Yerba 
Buena, received drafts on the Russian government for 50,000 pesos 
duros Espanolas, which he afterwards collected in the city of Mexico. 
At that time there were but two houses at Yerba Buena, viz : the 
Custom House and another owned by English traders. After the 
conclusion of these transactions, Mr. Mascarel and the owner of the 
vessel, Limantour, sailed for San Pedro, where they arrived in the 
month of January, 1845. Before sailing from San Pedro south, 
Limantour collected moneys due him from the estate of Tiburcio 
Tapia, through the administrator, Juan Baunchet, and then after ar- 
riving at San Diego, a quantity of tallow was received on board with 
which and other cargo that had been gathered up, the vessel pro- 
ceeded to Mazatlan. Here Limantour sold his brandy (aguardiente) 
and tallow, etc., and then went to the City of Mexico, and Mr. Mas- 
carel returned later to California. , 

Mr. Mascarel then settled in Los Angeles, which was his home 



284 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

from that time till his death, or for more than half a centurj'. Mr. 
Mascarel saw the small isolated Mexican pueblo (or ciudad) of Los 
Angeles g^ow to a modem American or cosmopolitan city of 120,- 
000 inhabitants, whose enterprise and activity, coupled with its won- 
drous natural advantages, have made it equal to any city of its size 
in the world. 

While Mr. Mascarel was naturally of a retiring disposition, in- 
clining him to shun publicity, he was in many respects a remarkable 
man. He had clear-cut and eminently practical views, strong con- 
victions and a sound judgment in business matters, which enabled 
him to accumulate a handsome fortune, though he gave away for 
charitable and other purposes, considerable sums during his lifetime. 
His charities, which in his later years amounted to several hundred 
dollars a month, were, as a rule, unknown to outsiders, i. e., to any 
one except himself and the beneficiaries. 

He served the city faithfully and honestly, both as Mayor and 
Councilman. When at one period he was a member of the finance 
committee of the City Council, a sewer was laid in Commercial 
street that cost in coin about $7,000. As a member of that com- 
mittee he did his best to have that claim paid by as small a discount on 
the city's paper as possible — not to exceed ten or at most fifteen 
per cent. But without his knowledge, and to his astonishment, 
other members actually negotiated a sale of the city's scrip at the 
unconscionable discount of from 65 to 70 per cent, so that the cost 
to the city of this short sewer, instead of $7,000 was $21,000 or 
$22,000. 

Mr. Mascarel, as an official, sought to manage the aflFairs of 
the city, with the same carefulness and honesty that actuated him 
in the management of his own private business. Mr. Mascarel 
spoke French and Spanish, but like so many natives of France who 
came to California, he was never able to quite master the English 
language. When General Irwin McDowell was commander of the 
army on this coast, after the close of the civil war, he made Los 
Angeles a visit, and our people were anxious to have him receive 
due honors by the Mayor, which office was at the time filled by 
Mr. Mascarel; and they feared his unfamiliarity with the English 
language might cause embarassment. But as it happened, General 
McDowell spoke French fluently, and so the official courtesies be- 
tween him and the Mayor passed off felicitously, greatly to the 
gratification of our people. 

In the olden time, and even for a long period after the change 
of government, almost everybody here knevv more or less Spanish, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 285 

and it was possible to transact business with an official who might 
be unacquainted with English if he only knew Spanish. Mr. Aguil- 
ar, e. g. who could not speak English, made a good and acceptable 
Mayor because of the general familiarity of citizens of all nation- 
alities then residing here, with the Spanisii tongue. 

I have myself been accustomed for years to transact business 
and to communicate freely with Frenchmen through that medium, 
although they did not understand English and I did not understand 
French. 

Mr. Mascarel was physically of stalwart proportions, being over 
six feet in height and weighing over 200 pounds. He was of a 
kindly disposition and though scarcely known by the newcomers he 
will be, in his decease, sincerely mourned by all the Pioneers of Los 
Angeles who knew him, whatever may have been their nationality, 
and especially will he be mourned by the native Califomians, 
amongst whom he lived so many years. He was buried with the 
rites of the Roman Catholic church, from the old church on the 
Plaza, where a large concourse assisted at the obsequies. 

Mr. Moulton tells me that among the passengers who came up 
from Mazatlan to San Pedro in 1844 with Mr. Mascarel were sev- 
eral Frenchmen, whom old Don Louis Vignes had sent for to 
France, to come out here and work for him at various trades. Sev- 
eral of these settled here permanently, whom some of you will re- 
member; they were: P. Domec, who was years ago an extensive 
lime maker at "El Escorpion" rancho; Antonio Labory, who had 
a vineyard south of the "Aliso" vineyard; two Manon brothers; 
and Don Pedro Vignes, who soon after went back to France. Mr. 
Mascarel, on his return from Mazatlan in May, '45, went to work 
as cooper for Don Louis Vignes; and later, with one of the Manon 
brothers, started a bakery. All these earliest French settlers have 
now passed away. 

JAMES CRAIG. 

James Craig, a pioneer of Lamanda Park, was bom in Armagh, 
Ireland, in 1841. He was educated for a civil engineer in which 
profession he attained distinction. He was employed in the con- 
struction of important works in Great Britain and afterwards in 
India. He served as a government engineer in Morocco. Exposure 
in these tropical countries injured his health. He came to Califor- 
nia in 1868 for the purpose of recuperating his health. He pur- 
chased land in what is now Lamanda Park, at one time owning 
about four thousand acres, extending from near where Marengo 
avenue now is up to the mountains. He sold the greater portion 



286 HISTORICAL BOCISTT OF 80UTHEBM CALIFORNIA 

of this, but retained his home place, known as the "Hermitage." 
He engaged in ranching and fruit growing, in which occupations 
he was quite successful. 

He married a daughter of the late Judge Volney E. Howard. 
Seven children have been bom to them. He had, for some time, 
been interested in developing water in the foothills. He came to 
his death December 30, 1899, by falling down the shaft of a tunnel 
which he was engaged in drifting into the side of the moimtain 
in Eaton canon. He was a member of the Institute of Civil En- 
gineers of Great Britain. He joined the Society of the Pioneers 
of Lx>s Angeles County at its organization. 

PALMER MILTON SCOTT. 

Palmer Milton Scott was bom in Kentucky, May 30, 1822. He 
was the fifth son of Anna and the Rev. John Scott, a minister of 
the Christian church. His parents, while he was quite young, re- 
moved to Indiana, and from there to Springfield, Illinois, where 
he g^ew to manhood. Being of an adventurous disposition the 
news of the discovery of gold in California induced him to make a 
trip to the Golden State. He came by way of Panama, reaching 
San Francisco early in 1851. From there he proceeded to the 
mines. Not succeeding equal to his expectations in the mines he 
returned to Illinois. From there he moved to Des Moines, Iowa. 
He took an active part in building up that city and was interested 
in its municipal affairs. He served several terms as a member of 
the Council of that city. He assisted actively in the building of 
the first Christian church in Des Moines, donating the lot on 
which it was built. When Pike's Peak gold excitement broke out 
he was one of the first to join in that "gold rush." On his return 
he decided to try his fortune once more in California. 

Through his influence, in April, 1862, a company of about 
twenty-five families banded together to make the trip across the 
plains. It was a long and tedious trip and to him a very painful 
one. At Salt Lake his wife and two children died. After six 
months of weary travel he reached his favorite city of Sacramento 
with the remainder of his little family. Here he located for a time. 
From Sacramento he removed to San Luis Obispo county and in 
1 87 1 he came to Los Angeles. He located on what is known as 
the P. M. Scott tract, a portion of which he subdivided during the 
"boom.'' He aided in building a schoolhouse on this tract and 
also a church. He took an active interest in muicipal affairs and 
was one of the fifteen freeholders who framed the present city 
charter. He died January 3, 1900. He leaves three children by 
his first wife and a widow to mourn his loss. 



MEMBERSHIP ROLL 



OFTHB 



PIONEERS OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY 



PLACB 

• Abernethy, Wm. B. 60 Mo. 

Abemethy, Lmua G. 48 Iowa 

*Ayera, James J. 67 Soot. 

Andenon, KM. 86 Pa. 

Andenon, Mm. David 60 Ky. 

Anatin, Henry O. 62 Maaa. 

Anderaon, John C. 64 Ohio 

Bath, Albert L. 70 N.Soo. 

*Baker, Francis 70 Mass. 

Barclay, John H. 66 Can. 

Barrowa, Henry D. 74 Oonn. 

Barrows, James A. 60 Ck>nn. 

Bayer, Joseph 68 Oerm. 

Bilderbeck, Mrs. Dora 67 Ky. 

Bent, Henry K. W. 68 Maas^ 

Bizby, Jotham 68 Maine 

Bioknell, John D. 61 Yt. 

Bonton, Edward 66 N. Y. 

Brode, Charles 66 (}erm. 

Brossmer, Sig. 64 Gtorm. 

Bnsh, Charles H. 64 Penn. 

Bums, James F. 68 N. Y. 

Butterfield, S. H. 61 Penn. 

Bell, Horace 68 Ind. 

Biles, Mrs. Elisabeth S. 63 Enff. 

Biles, Albert 63 Eng. 

Brossmer, Mrs. E. 66 Germ. 

Blanchard, James H. 68 Mich. 

Baldwin, Jeremiah 70 Ire. 

Barclay, Henry A. 50 Pa. . 

Binford, Joseph C 89 Mo. 

Barrows, Cornelia S. 68 Conn. 

Caswell, Wm. M. 42 Cal. 

CereUi, Sebastian 66 Italy 

Conkelman, Bernard 67 Germ. 

Cohn, Kaspare 60 Germ. 

Coronel,Mrs. M. W. de 47 Texas 

Crimmins, John 46 Ire. 

Crawford, J. S. 62 N. Y. 
^Dead. 



OOCUPAnOK 

Merchant 

Editor 

Collector 

Honsewife 

Attorney 

Bnilder 

Retired 

Speculator 

Carpenter 

Retired 

Retired 

Oil Producer 

Dressmaker 

ReUred 

Capitalist 

Attorney 

Real Estate 

Merchant 

Builder 

Jeweler 

Agent 

Farmer 

Lawyer 

Housewife 

Contractor 

Housewife 

Attorney 

Retired 

Attorney 

Bank Teller 

Housewife 



AMaiY, nioo. 

April '72 

April '72 

Aug 18, '72 

July, 4. '78 

Jan 1, '68 

Aug 80, '60 

Biay20,78 

1871 

Sept 17, '61 

Aug '71 

Dec 12. '54 

May '68 

July 4, '70 

Jan 14, '61 

Oct '96 

June '66 

May '72 

Aug '68 

Jan 19, '60 

Nov 28. '68 

March '70 

Nov 18, '68 

Aug '60 

Got '52 

July '78 

July '78 

May 16, '68 

April ^72 

April '74 

Aug 1. '74 

July 16, '74 

May '(i8 



617 W. 9th 
617 W. 9th 
Azusa 
Los Angeles 



▲a.ni 

STATS 

1868 
1866 
1810 
1878 



Cashier Aug 3, '67 

Restauranter Nov 24, '74 

Retired Jan 8, '67 

Merchant Dec '60 

Housewife Feb, '60 
IfasL Plumber March '69 

Dentist 1806 



641 S. Grand Av.l862 

8118 Figueroa 1860 

Monrovia 1878 

608 W. 6th 1861 

1883 Wright 1849 

Fernando 1860 

724 Beacon . 1862 

236 Jefferson 1868 

746 Broadway 18(>8 

227 N. HUi 1861 

Claremont 1868 

Long Beach 1858 

226 S. HiU 18M) 

760 Castelar 1868 

1229 S. OUve 

129 Wilmington 1807 

818 N. Main 1870 

152 Wright 1868 

Burbank 1868 

1387 Figueroa 1860 

141 N. Olive 1878 

141 N. OUve 1878 

1712 Brooklyn 1866 

919 W. Second 1872 

721 Darwin 1860 

1821 S. Main 1874 

Los Angeles 1874 

W. Jefferson 1866 

1008 K Wash 1857 
811 San Fem'do 1874 
810 S. Los An'lesl864 

12U S. Hill 1860 

701 Central Av 1887 

127W.26th 1860 

Downey Block 1868 



288 



HIBTOBICAL SOCIBTT OF 80UTHEBN CALIFOBHIA 



HJLKS 


▲01 


BISTH- 


OOOUPATION 


ABKFV. IN CO. 


BE8. AB 


.. nr 






PLACI 






8TATS 


*CraiK, James 


68 


Ire. 


Civil Engineer AprU'60 


Lamanda J 


868 


Currier, A, T. 


60 


Maine 


Farmer 


July 1, »eo 


Spadra ] 


1861 


Carter, N. C. 


68 


Mass. 


Farmer 


Nov »71 


Sierra Madre J 


871 


Clark, Frank B. 


66 


Conn. 


Farmer 


Feb 28, '60 


Hyde Park 1 


.800 


Conner, Mrs. Kate 


60 


Germ. 


HoosewifB 


June 22, '71 


1064 S. Grand 




Chapman, A. B. 


60 


Ala. 


Attorney 


April '57 


San Gabriel 1 


1865 


Cnmmings, Geo. 


66 


Aua. 


Stockman 


March '68 


First street ] 


.863 


Cunninirham, Robt. G. 


60 


Ind. 


Dentist 


Nov 16, '73 


1801 W. Second J 


.873 


Clarke, N. J. 


77 


N. H. 


Retired 


'40 


317 S. HiU ] 


[Bid 


Dalton, W. T. 


64 


Ohio 


Fruit Grower »61 


1000 Central av ] 


1851 


Davis, A. E. 


60 


N. Y. 


Supervisor 


Nov '66 


2904 Vermont 1 


18E^ 


Davis, John 


60 


N. Y. 


Carpenter 


April '72 


University ] 


L872 


Dooner, P. W. 


66 


Can. 


Lawyer 


May 1, '72 


848 S. Broad'y ] 


L872 


Dohs, Fred 


68 


Germ. 


Capitalist 


Sept '60 


614 E. First ] 


1858 


Dodson, W m. R. 


68 


Ark. 


Hotel-keeper 


Sept '68 


Bl Monte ] 


L868 


Dotter, John C. 


62 


Germ. 


Merchant 


June 20, '60 


606 Temple J 


850 


Dosmond, D. 


66 


Ire. 


Merchant 


Sept 2, '60 


037 S. Hill ] 


L868 


Desmond, C. C. 


88 


Mass. 


Merchant 


Sept '70 


724 Coronado J 


L870 


Dunkelberger, I. R. 


67 


Pa. 


Retired 


Jan '66 


1218 W. 9th ] 


L866 


Dunlap, J. D. 


74 


N. H. 


Miner 


Nov '60 


Silverado ] 


L850 


Dryden, Wm. 


68 


N.Y. 


Farmer 


May '68 


Los Angeles J 


L861 


Durfee, Jas. D. 


60 


111. 


Farmer 


Sept 16, '68 


Kl Monte ] 


L856 


Davis, Emily W. 


48 


111. 


Housewife 


'66 


2904 Vermont ] 


L856 


Eaton, BeDj. S. 


76 


Conn. 


Hyd. engineer *51 


433 Sherman ] 


L850 


FiHton, Fred 


44 


Cal. 


Mayor 


'55 


460 West Lake ] 


L855 


Ebinger, Louis 


65 


Germ. 


Merchant 


Oct 9, '71 


755 Maple ] 


L866 


Elliott, J. M, 


54 


S. C. 


Banker 


Nov '70 


Alhambvti ] 


1870 


Ensign, Elisabeth L. 


54 


Mo. 


Housewife 


Nov 15, '60 


1525 Reckwood 




Evarts, Myron E. 


69 


N.Y. 


Painter 


Oct 26, '58 


Los Angeles ] 


1852 


Edleman, A. W. 


67 


Pol. 


Rabbi 


June '62 


1343 Flower ] 


L859 


•Foster, Stephen C. 


78 


Maine 


Retired j 


March 23, '47 


221 E. Second 1 


L846 


Fleishman, Henry J. 


37 


Cal. 


Cashier 


July 5, '62 


221 W. Fourth ] 


L862 


Foy, Samuel 0. 


69 


D. C. 


Merchant 


March '54 


651 S. Figueroa ] 


L852 


Furguson, Wm. 


63 


Ark. 


Retired 


April '69 


303 S. Hill 1 


1850 


Furrey, Wm. C. 


6) 


N. Y. 


Merchant 


Aug '72 


1103 Ingraham 1 


L865 


French, Loring W. 


58 


Ind. 


Dentist 


Oct '68 


837 Alvarado J 


L863 


Franklin, Mrs. Mary 


52 


Ky. 


Seamstress 


Jan 1, 53 


253 Avenue 32 ] 


L852 


Fickett, Charles R. 


62 


Miss. 


Farmer 


July 5, 73 


El Monte 1 


L860 


Fisher, L. T. 


68 


Ky. 


Publisher 


Mar 24, '74 


Los Angeles 1 


L873 


Fleishman, Henry F. 


52 


S. C. 


Caterer 


Oct '68 


1288 Main J 


L868 


Foy, Mrs. Lu^'inda M 


. 55 


Ind. 


Housewife 


Dec. 24, '50 


651 S. Figueroa ] 


L850 


GFarey, Thomas A. 


69 


Ohio 


Nurseryman 


Oct 14, '52 


2822 Maple av 


L852 


Garvey, Richard 


60 


Ire. 


Farmer 


Dec '58 


San Gabriel 1 


1858 


Gage, Henry T. 


46 


N. Y. 


Gov. State 


Aug '74 


1146 W. 28th ] 


L874 


Gillette, J. W. 


62 


N. Y. 


Inspector 


May '62 


322 Temple 


1858 


Gillette, Mrs. E. S. 


45 


III. 


Housewife 


Aug '68 


322 Temple 


ISiit 


Gould. Will D. 


54 


Vt 


Attorney 


Feb 28, '72 


Beaudry av 


1872 



•Dead. 



MEMBKBSHIP BOLI. 



289 



NAME 

Glassell, Andrew 
Gollmer, Charles 
Gibson, Frank A. 
Griffith, J. M. 
Green, K K. 
Green, Floyd E. 
Goinn, James M. 
GoldBworthy, John 
* Griffin. John S. 
Gilbert, Harlow 
Gerkina, Jacob F. 
Grosser, Wm. F. 
Garrett. Robert L. 
Grebe, Christian 

Haines, Rafos R. 
Harris, Bmil 
Hargitt, C. 
Harper, C. F. 
Harris, Leopold 
Hazard, Geo. W. 
Hazard, Henry T. 
Hellman, Herman W. 
Heinzeman, C. F. 
Horgan, T. 
Hanter, Jane E. 
•Hiller, Horace 
Huber, C. E. 
Hamilton, A. N. 
Holbrook, J. F. 
Heimann, Gnstave 
Hutton, Anrelins W. 
Hiller, Mrs. Abbie 
Herwig, Henry J. 
Hough, A. M. 
Hnbbell, Stephen C. 

Illich, Jerry 

Jacoby. Nathan 
Jacoby, Morris 
James, Alfred 
Jenkins, Charles M. 
Johnson, Charles R. 
Jadson, A. H. 
Jordon, Joseph 
Johansen, Mrs. Cedlia 50 
Jenkins, Wm. W. 
Jnnkin, Joseph W. 



lOI 


BIBTH- 


OCCUPJLTIOH 


UUOT. IKOO. 


BE8. i 


I.B.IH 




PLACB 






1 


RATS 


69 


Va. 


Attorney 


Dec '65 


252 Buena Vista 185S 


49 


Germ. 


Merchant 


'68 


1520 Flower 


1868 


48 


Iowa 


Banker 


Decl,'72 


520 Court 


1866 


70 


Md. 


Retired 


April '61 


Los Angeles 


1862 


59 


N. Y. 


Mannfiftotnrer 


May '72 


W. Ninth 


1872 




HI. 


ManollEustarer 


May '72 


W. Ninth 


1872 


64 


Ohio 


Retired 


Oct 18, '69 


115 S. Grand av 


1864 


60 


Eng. 


Surveyor 


Mar 20, '69 


790 E. 16th 


1852 


82 


Va. 


Physician 


Jan 7, '47 


1109 Downey av 


1846 


59 


N. Y. 


Fruit grower 


Nov 1, 69 


Bell Station 


1869 


59 


Germ. 


Farmer 


Jan '54 


Glendale 


1854 


64 


Germ. 


Merchant 


Jan '74 


1825 E. First 


1878 


56 


Ark. 


Undertaker 


Nov 5, '62 


701 N. Grand av 


1862 


54 


Qerm, 


Restauranter 


Jan 2, '74 


811 San Feman. 


1868 


73 


Maine 


Telegrapher 


June '71 


218 W. 27th 


1857 


60 


Pms. 


Detective 


April 9, '67 


1026 W. 8th 


1867 


77 


Eng. 


Carpenter 


July '72 


747 Yale 


1871 


67 


N. C. 


Merchant 


May '68 


Laurel 


1863 


64 


Pms. 


Merchant 


Feb 4, '64 


935 S. Hill 


1858 


67 


111. 


Clerk 


Dec 25, '54 


1307S.Alvarado 1854 


55 


in. 


Attorney 


Dec 25, '54 


2826 3. Hope 


1854 


55 


Germ, 


Banker 


May 14, '59 


951 HUl 


1850 


58 


Germ. 


Druggist 


June 6, '68 


620 S. Grand av 


1868 


65 


Ire. 


Plasterer 


Sept. 18. '70 


320 Jackson 


1868 


55 


N. Y. 




Jan '66 


W S. Broad wav 


53 


N. Y. 


Merchant 


Oct '69 


147 W. 28rd 


1869 


54 


Ky. 


Agent 


July '69 


836 S. Broadway 1850 


55 


Mich. 


Miner 


Jan 24, 72 


611 Temple 


1872 


53 


Ind. 


Manurr 


May 20, '73 


155 Vine 


1878 


46 


Anst. 


Banker 


July '71 


727 California 


1871 


51 


Ala. 


Attorney 


Aug 5, '69 


Los Angeles 


1860 


50 


N. Y. 


Housewife 


Oct '69 


147 W. 23rd 


1869 


65 


Prus. 


Farmer 


Dec 25, '53 


729 Wall 


1868 


60 


N. Y. 


Minister 


Nov '68 


1019 Orange 


1868 


60 


N. Y. 


Attorney 


'69 


1515 Pleasant av 


1869 


47 


Anst. 


Restauranter 


Dec '74 


1018 HiU 


1870 


70 


Pms. 


Merchant 


July '61 


789 Hope 


1861 


50 


Pms. 


Merchant 


'65 


Los Angeles 


1866 


70 


Ohio 


Biiner 


AprU'68 


101 N.B. HUl av 1868 


60 


Ohio 


Dep. Sheriff 


Mar 19, '51 


1158 Santee 


1861 


70 


Mass. 


Accountant 


'51 


Los Angeles 


1817 


60 


N. Y. 


Attorney 


Biay'70 


Pasadena ay 


1870 


61 


Aost. 


Retired 


June '65 


Los Angeles 


1866 


50 


Germ. 


Housewife 


'74 


Los Angeles 


1874 


64 


Ohio 


Miner 


Mar :0, '51 


NewhaU 


1861 


72 


Maine 


Carpenter 


'58 


619 E. Wash. 


1868 



290 



HSIOBIOAL 80GIETT OF 80UTHBBN CALIFORNIA 



•ocuPATioif Amsnr. n oo. 



AK.nr 



K^et, Charles G. 62 

Kremer, M. 76 
Kramer, Mrs. ICatildA 61 

Kuhrts, Jacob 67 

Karts, Joseph 67 

Kysor, E. F. 67 

Kuts, Samnel 62 



Lamboam. Fred 
Lankershim, J. B. 
•La Dow, 8. W. 
Lazard, Solomon 
lioeb, Leon 
Leok, Henry Vander 
Lembcke, Charles M. 
Leconvreur, Frank 
Levy, Michael 
Lyon, Lewis H. 
Lechler, George W. 
Lens, Edmund 

Macy, Oscar 
Mappa, Adam G. 

Mercadante, N. 
Mesmer, Joseph 
Messer, K. 
Meyer, Samuel 
Melzer, Louis 
Mitchell, Newell H. 
Moore, Isaac N. 
MuUally, Joseph 
McLain, Geo, P. 
McLean, Wm. 
•McDonald, E. N. 
McMullin, W. G. 
Moulton, Elijah 
McComas, Jos. E. 
Mott, Thomas D. 
Melius, Jas. J. 
Miller, William 

Norton, Isaac 
New mark, Harris 
Newmark, M. J. 
Newell, J. G. 
Nichols, Thomas E. 
Newell, Mrs. J. G. 
Nadeau, Geo. A. 
Newmark, Mrs. H. 

Orme, Henry S. 
♦ Dead. 



PLACB 

Yt. Clerk 
France Ins. sgent 

N. Y 

Germ. Merchant 
(}erm. Physician 
N. Y. Retired 



Nov as, '68 

March '62 

Sept '64 

May 10, '68 

Feb 2, 68 

AprU'60 



Pa. Dep. Co. Clerk Oct 29, '74 



62 
4» 
76 
74 
64 
40 
70 
70 
66 
37 
67 
62 

70 
76 
61 
43 
75 
69 
52 
66 
62 
80 
52 
57 
67 
51 
79 
65 
69 
49 
66 

55 
65 
61 
70 
4L 
53 
49 
58 



Bur. 

Mo. 

N. Y. 

France 

France 

CaL 

Germ. 

Germ. 

France 

Me. 

Pa. 

Germ. 

Ind. 

N. Y. 

Italy 

Ohio 

Germ. 

Germ. 

Bohe. 

Ohio 

111. 

Ohio 

Va. 

Scot. 

N. Y. 

Can. 

Can. 

Va. 

N. Y. 

Mass. 

N. Y. 

Pol. 
Germ. 
N. Y. 
Can. 
Cal. 
Ind. 
Can. 
N. Y. 



Grocer 

Capitalist 

Farmer 

Retired 

Merchant 

Merchant 

Pickle wks 

Surveyor 

Merchant 

Book-keeper 

Apiarist 

Insurance 

Farmer 

Search. Rec. 

Grooer 

Merchant 

Retired 

Merchant 

Stationer 



Dec '60 
'72 
May '62 
•51 
Feb '66 
Dec 14, '60 
Mar 20, '67 
Mar 6, '66 
Oct '68 
Oct '68 
Nov '58 
June 17, '74 

'60 

Nov '64 

April 16, '69 

Sept '59 

Feb. »54 

April »53 

April 1, »70 



Hotel keeper Sept 26, *68 



Retired 

Retired 

Merchant 

Contractor 

Capitalist 

Dep. Sheriff 

Retired 

Retired 

Retired 

Ins. 

Carpenter 

Sec. Loan As. 

Merchant 

Merchant 

Laborer 

Co. Auditor 

Housewife 

Farmer 



Nov '69 

March 5, »54 

Jan 2, »68 

'69 

Oct 23, '53 

Jan '70 

May 12, '45 

Oct '72 

'52 

'53 

Nov 22, '60 

Nov, ,69 

Oct 22, '53 

Sept, '54 

July 14, '58 

'58 

June, '53 

'68 

Sept 16, '54 



209 N. Workman 18G2 

764 Hope 1860 

754 Hope 1868 

107 W. First 1818 
861Bnena'Vlsta 1887 
328 Bonnie Brae 1866 

817 S. Soto 1874 

804 Jndson 1869 

960 S. OUve 1854 

Los Angeles 1852 

607 Seventh 1861 

1621 8. Hope 1866 

2809 Flower 1860 
677 Los Angeles 1861 

651 S. Main 1861 

622 Kip 1851 

642 Ruth av 1868 

Newhall 1868 
2907 S. Hope 

Alhambra 1860 

Los Angeles 1854 

429 San Pedro 1861 
1706 Manitou av 1859 

226 Jackson 1>51 

1337 S. Hope 1853 

900 Pearl 18G8 

Pasadena 1863 

130 Hancock 1869 

417 College 1850 

446 N. Grand av 1867 

561 S. Hope 1869 

Wilmington 1853 

Station D 1867 

Los Angeles 1845 

Pomona 1853 

645 S. Main 1849 

157 W. Adams 1853 

Santa Monica 

1364 Figueroa 1869 

1051 Grand Av. 1853 

1047 Grand Av. 1853 

2417 W 9th 1850 

221 W 31st 1858 

2417 W 9th 1852 

Florence 

1051 S. Grand 1854 



61 Ga. Physician July 4, '66 175 S Spring 



1868 



MEMBERSHIP BOLL 



291 



VAMI 



AflB BUTE- OCCUPATION AEmiT. IN CO. 



FLACB 

Osborne, John 62 Eng. Retired 

Osbom, Wm. M. 65 N. T. Lirery 

O'MelTony, Edw. S 41 111. Pr Tran Ck> 

(^Melveny, Henry W. 80 111. Attorney 



Novli,'6S 822W90th 
Maroh«'58 973 W. 12th 
Nov, '00 Melrose Av 
Not, '60 Baker Brook 



STATS 

1854 
1866 

1860 



Owens. Edward H. 53 Ala. Ck U. S. Court Oct, '70 Garvansa 



1870 



Parker, Joel B. 


60 


N. Y. 


Farmer 


April 20, '70 


Peeohke, William 


80 


Germ. 


Retired 


April 18, '65 


Pike. Geo. H. 


64 


Mass. 


Retired 


'67 


Peck, Geo. H. 


80 


VL 


Farmer 


Deo, '68 


Ponet, Victor 


68 


Belg. 


Capitalist 


Oct, '60 


Pridham, Wm. 


63 


N.Y. 


Supt. W F Co Aug 28, '68 


Tnger, Samuel 


67 


Prus. 


Notary 


Feb, '54 


Proctor, A. A. 


68 


N. Y. 


Blacksmith 


Dec 22, '72 


PUkington. W. M. 


50 


Eng. 


Gardner 


'73 



512 E 12th 1870 

588Maoy 18Sa 

Los Angeles 1858 

El Monte 1810 

Alyarado 1867 

Baker Block 185i 

Los Angeles 1854 

1501 Maple Av 1878 
218 N CummingBl878 



Quinn, Richard 
Quinn Michael F. 

Raab, David M. 
Raynes, Frank 
Reichard, Daniel 
Riley. James M. 
Richardson, £. W. 
Richardson, W. C. B. 
Roeder, Louis 
Rowan, Thomas K 
Robinson, W. W. 
Roberts, Henry C. 
Rinaldl, Carl A. R. 
Rendall, Stephen A. 
Reavia, Walter S. 
^Raphael, Hyman 
*Roee, Leonard J. 
Rogers, Alex. H. 
Ready, Russell W. 
Ross, Erskine M. 
Russell Wm. H. 

Sabichi, Frank 
Schmidt, Gottfried 
Schmidt, August 
Schaffer, John 
Shorb, A.S. 
Schieck, Daniel 
Soward, Charles 
Stoll, Simon 
Stewart, J. M. 
Stephens, Daniel G. 
Stephens. Mrs. K T. 
Smith. Isaac S. 

•Dead. 



60 Ire. Farmer 
68 N. Y. Farmer 



Jan, '61 El Monte 
March 3. '50 El Monte 



1861 
1860 



57 Germ. 

49 Eng. 

50 Ohio 
50 Mo. 

49 Ohio 
84 N. H. 
67 Gtorm. 

56 N.Y. 

65 No SCO 

66 Pa. 
66 Germ. 
62 Eng. 

58 Mo. 
60 Germ. 
72 Germ. 
70 Md. 
48 Mo. 
54 Va. 

50 N.Y. 

57 Cal. 
50 Den. 
60 Germ. 
60 Hoi. 
62 Ohio 
79 Germ. 
66 Ky. 
54 Ky. 
70 N. H. 

66 N.J. 
Maine 

67 N.Y. 



Dairyman May 12, '60 
Lumberman Aug, '71 
Livery July, '68 

Manufacturer Dec, '66 
Dairyman Sept, '71 

Surveyor '68 

Retired Nov 28, '56 

Broker March, '60 

Clerk Sept, '68 

Frait Grower '54 

Horticulturist April, '54 
Real Estate May 1, '66 
Collector June 8, '60 

Merchant Sept, '71 

Farmer '60 

Retired Aug '73 

Attorney Dec 18, '73 

U. S. Judge June 10, '68 
Fruit Grower April 0, '66 



Attorney 

Farmek- 

Retired 

ReUred 

Physician 

Retired 

Teacher 

Merchant 

Retired 

Orchardist 

Sec Oil Co 



'42 

Aug, '64 

May, '60 

March, '72 

June, '71 

Oct 24, '55 

Oct, 73 

Aug, '60 

May 14, '70 

April, '61 

'69 

Nov, '71 



South Pasadena 1866 

Pomona 1871 

450 Beaudry 1868 
1105 S. OUve 1857 
Tropico 1871 
Tropico 1868 
319 Boyd 1856 
Bryson Block 1854 
115 S. Olive 1851 
Azusa 1850 
Fernando 1854 
905 Alvarado 1861 
1407 Sunset Bou 1860 

451 W.Lake 1871 
406 Grand Ave 1860 
1152WaU 1862 
San Pedro at 1878 
Los Angeles 1868 
Whittier 1866 

2437 Figueroa 1842 

Los Angeles 1864 

710 S Olive 1860 

Los Angeles 1849 

652 Adams 1871 

224 Franklin 1852 

El Monte 1868 
802 S. Broadway 1860 

512 W dOth 1860 

Station 7 1860 

Stotion 7 1866 

210 N. Olive 1866 



292 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFOR>^IA 



HAM! 



AGE 



Strong, Robert 83 

Snyder, Z. T. 48 

•Scott, PAlmer M. 76 

Slaaghter, John L. 64 
Scott. Mrs. Amanda W.68 



StoU, H. W. 
Summer, C. A. 
Smith, Mrs. Sarah J. 
Starr, Joseph L. 
Schmidt, Frederick 
Shelton, John 
Salisbury, J. C. 

Tobernmn, J. R. 
Teed, Mathew 
Thorn, Cameron E. 
Taft, Mrs. Mary H. 
Thomas, John M. 
Thurman, S. D. 
Town, R. M. 
Truman, Ben C. 
Turner, Wm. F. 

Ulyard, Augustus 
Ulyard, Mrs. Mary 
Udell, Joseph C. 

Vignolo, Ambrozio 
Venable, Joseph W. 
Vogt, Henry 

Workman, Wm. H. 

Workman, K. H. 

•Wiley. Henry C. 

Wise. Kenneth D. 

WillianiHon, Geo. W. 

Weyse. Rudolph G. 

Weyse, Mrs. A. W. B. 

Wright, Charles M. 

White. Charles H. 

W^eid, Ivar A. 

Wilson, C. N. 

Wilson, John T. 

Ward, James F. 

Workman, Alfred 

White, Caleb E. 

Weil, Jacob 
WigginH, Thomas J. 
Wood, Frwl W. 
Woodhead, Chas. B. 

Yarnell. Jesse 
Yountr. John D. 
Yarnell, Mrs. S. C. 



60 
5S 
42 
55 
50 
53 
65 



BiaTB- 
PLACE 

N. Y. 

Ind. 

111. 

La. 

Ohio 

Germ. 

Eug. 

111. 

Tex. 

Germ. 

Tex. 

N. Y. 



OCCUPATIOH ABaxV. IK CO. 



▲a. or 



63 Va. 

70 Eng. 
74 Va. 
60 Mich. 

63 Ind. 
56 Tenn. 

55 111. 

64 R. I. 
60 Ohio 

83 Pa. 

69 Eng. 

79 Vt. 

71 Italy 
69 Ky. 

72 Germ. 

60 Mo. 

62 Mo. 

68 Pa. 

65 Ind. 
41 111. 
39 Cal. 
37 Cal. 

63 Vt. 
46 Mass. 
59 Den. 

69 Ohio 
39 Pa, 

63 N. Y. 

56 P:ng. 
67 Mass. 

70 Germ. 

64 Mo. 
46 Wis. 
54 Ohio 

62 Ohio 

57 Mo. 
52 Wis. 



March, '72 

April, »72 

Sept, '72 

Jan 10, '61 

Dec 21, 50 

Oct 1, '07 

May 8, '73 

Sept. '72 

'71 

'73 

Sept. 28, '54 

May '74 

April, '63 

Jan, '63 

April. '54 

Dec 25. '54 

Dec 7, '68 

Sept 15, '52 

Nov 1, '69 

Feb 1. '72 

May, '68 



Broker 

Farmer 

Real Estate 

Retired 

Housewife 

Manufacturer 

Broker 

Housewife 

Dairyman 

Farmer 

Farmer 

Retired 

Farmer 

Carpenter 

Attorney 

Housewife 

Farmer 

Farmer 

Farmer 

Author 

Grocer 

Baker 

Housewife 

Attorney 

Merchant 

Fanner 

Builder 

Real Estate 

Real Estate 

Speculator 

Physician 

Capitalist 

Bookeeper 

Housewife 

Farmer 

SPCo 

Landlord 

Lawyer 

Farmer 

Farmer 

Broker 

Horticulturist Dec 24, '68 

Retired '54 

Farmer Sept, '51 

C. Engineer Mar 24, '74 

Dairyman Feb lil, '74 



Pflsadena 1872 

Tropioo 1872 
222 Morton Ave 1850 

614 N Bun. HiU 1866 
589 Mission R'd 1858 
844 S Hill 1867 
1301 Orange 1878 
Temple st 1860 
Ix>s Angeles 1868 
Li>s Angeles 1873 
Aznsa 1864 
1311 S Hill 1874 

615 S Flgueroa 1860 
513 California 1854 
118 E 3rd 1849 
459 S. Hill 1854 
Monrovia 1859 
El Monte 1852 
Tolnca 1809 
23rd St 1866 
608 N Griffin 1858 



Dec 31, '62 819 Flower 1862 

Dec 31, '52 819 l-lower 1852 

'60 St George Hotel ISoq 

Sept 26, '72 535 S Main 1850 

July, '69 Downey 1849 

Jan 4, *69 Castelar 1854 



'54 
'51 



July 3, '52 

Sept, '72 

'71 

Jan 29, '60 

July 16, '62 

July, '59 

Nov, '72 



fro 
§ At 



Jan 9. '71 

Jan 9, '71 

Jan '?2 

Nov 28. 'G8 



Printer 

Farmer 

Housewife 



April, '67 

Oct '53 

April '77 



375 Boyle Ave 1854 

120 Boyle Ave 1854 

309 S Hill 1852 

i:j51 S Grand Av 1872 

Los Angeles 1871 

Thompson st 1860 

Santa Monica 1862 

Spadra 1859 

1137 Ingraham 1852 

741 S Main 1864 

Fernando 1870 

Fernando 1870 

1121 S Grand 

212 Boyle Av 

Pomona 1849 

Pasadena 1853 

El Monte 1S.>4 

Los Angeles 1874 
852 Buena Vista 1873 

1808 W Ist 1862 

2«07 Figueroa 1853 

1808 W ist 1856 



• Dead.